(French Classical Music)
Louise Elisabeth Vigee
was born into a family of painters in Paris in 1755,
the same year as Marie Antoinette.
A child prodigy, she began her career
as a portraitist age 14 and soon became
one of the best paid painters in France.
In 1775 she married an art dealer,
Jean-Baptiste Le Brun who built up her standing.
Summoned to Versailles, she became
the official portraitist to Queen Marie Antoinette,
painting more than 20 portraits of the sovereign.
With revolution in the air Elisabeth was soon stained
by association with the increasingly discredited queen.
After the storming of the Bastille
Elisabeth's life was in danger.
She knew she had to leave France fast.
She took the stagecoach with her daughter Julie
in October 1789, the day after the royal family
had been taken from Versailles to Paris
and confined to the Tuilieries.
She didn't know then that her exile would last 13 years
and she would cross half of Europe.
(tense orchestral music)
Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun left Paris with very little luggage
and just enough money to pay her fare to Rome,
hoping she would not be recognized
and could pass the border without mishap.
(peaceful instrumental music)
Opposite me in the stagecoach
was a man who told me quite simply
that he had stolen watches and other things.
Not satisfied with relating his fine exploits to us,
the thief talked incessantly of stringing up
such and such people on lampposts,
naming a number of my own acquaintances.
My daughter thought this man very wicked.
He frightened her.
And this gave me the courage to say "I beg you sir
"not to talk of killing before this child."
That silenced him and he ended
by playing at battle with my daughter.
After a stop in Lyon
the traveler then reached Chambery in the state of Savoie.
Once outside of France she finally felt safe.
But she was recognized by a postilion
while she crossed the Mont Conis pass,
and simply because he had seen an engraving
of her self-portrait with her daughter.
Madame Le Brun's celebrity had been fueled
by the spread throughout Europe
of engravings of her most famous portraits.
Reassured for a while, she continued on her way to Rome.
(speaking in foreign language)
The young woman decided to leave
on what would appear like a study trip to Italy.
(speaking in foreign language)
The grand tour in Italy
was a rite of passage for painters.
So off she went, leaving her husband
but taking her daughter.
(upbeat instrumental music)
In the late 18th century
travel was fashionable.
Exiles, traitors and artists in search of patrons
crisscrossed Europe in stage coaches, cabs and carriages.
New roads and repairs to old roads
were shortening travel time.
In 1750 it took 12 days to cross France,
whereas 15 years later eight sufficed.
In 1780 the public coaches were still twice as fast
on the royal roads while the invention of spring suspension
eased the traveler's tiredness.
(cheerful instrumental music)
Fresh horses awaited riders and carriages
at post houses in order to accelerate mail delivery.
Here, inn's would cater to traveler's appetites
and sometimes provide basic accommodations.
Since the 17th century Rome had been
the homeland of all Eurpoean artists.
The circulation of the paintings of Italian artists
and the creation of large collections
ensured that the whole of Europe was familiar
with the works of the masters.
The Grand Tour as it was called, was a study trip,
not just for artists but also for young gentlemen
keen to round out their education.
Italian landscapes were in fashion at the time.
In France, Joseph Vernet romanticized Naples and Rome
whereas Hubert Robert specialized
in depicting ancient Roman ruins.
(speaking in foreign language)
The artist did break her journey,
first in Turin, then in Parma.
Finally she traveled Bologne,
where she stayed for some time.
In this town the first thing the young woman
wanted to see was a picture she'd heard of by Domenichino,
The Martyrdom of Saint Agnes.
Soon after her arrival
she was gazing at the painting at length.
Moved by the youth and innocence of the young martyr,
suddenly the organ struck up the overture
to Iphigenie en Tauride,
one of Marie Antoinette's favorite arias.
Saint Iphigenie and the queen merged into one tragic image.
The traveler burst into tears.
A flood of memories of happy, lighthearted times
that seemed forever lost and for the first time
she deeply felt the solitude of exile.
(melancholy music)
(dramatic music)
From Bolgne she journeyed to Florence
where she decided to linger.
In the Uffizi Gallery, enriched by the Medicis,
she explored the masterpieces of Michelangelo,
Titian, Raphael, and in the Palazzo Pitti
those of Rubens and Rembrandt.
For a time the wealth of wonders made her forget
Paris and the revolution and she set off once more
for Rome, spiritual home of all artists.
You know dear friend that just a short distance
from Rome St. Peter's Dome is visible.
I cannot tell you the joy I felt upon seeing it.
I thought I was dreaming
of what I had so long desired in vain.
(gentle orchestral music)
Only the satisfaction of living in Rome
could sooth my sorrow at leaving my land,
my family, and so many beloved friends.
Upon her arrival, the portraitist
was taken in by her friend the painter Menageot,
director of the French Academy.
He lent her a little money.
(speaking in foreign language)
Menageot admired her greatly
and she loved to hear him talk about painting.
It's possible that a platonic relationship
developed between them.
Founded in 1666 by Colbert,
and later installed in the Palazzo Mancini
the Academy welcomed Paul Cionez,
chosen by the Academy Royale.
Her fame had crossed borders and orders
from exiled immigrants and Italian nobles came flooding in.
She was even invited by the Vatican
to execute a portrait of Pope Pius VI.
Elisabeth refused the commission
as custom would have insisted on her
being veiled for the sittings,
which she saw as being incompatible
with the quality of her work.
(speaking in foreign language)
When she arrived in Rome,
she came across an already established female painter,
even more successful that herself, Angelica Kauffman.
Like Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun,
Angelica Kauffman was a precocious artist.
Born in Switzerland, also into a family of painters,
she traveled throughout Europe at a young age,
acquiring a cosmopolitan clientele.
In London she was one of the founders of the Royal Academy
and her portraits were sought after among the gentry.
Angelica Kauffman has a rather different background.
She started out an international artist.
She had a father who was a journeyman painter.
(upbeat instrumental music)
She was in fact a history painter a good part of her life.
And that's one of the great differences
between the two of them.
And she was traveling all over Switzerland
and North Italy when she was very young.
I dare say it was a more international artist
even than Vigee Le Brun.
(speaking in foreign language)
In her memoirs Madame Vigee Le Brun
speaks of Angelica Kauffman, saying she was very intelligent
and that what she did was pretty.
You could sense she didn't want to say
she was a good painter.
She just said she was very cultured but rather boring.
Despite the unfavorable review,
Elisabeth was flattered to appear at the theater
or the opera alongside the most famous of her colleagues.
(speaking in foreign language)
She was thrilled that all the spectators
finally acclaimed them as the two
most famous female artists in Europe.
(speaking in foreign language)
Though the male written history books
may have forgotten their names,
great museums and international collectors
have fought over the masterpieces of Rosalba Carriera,
Angelica Kauffman, Adelaide Labille-Guiard,
and Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun,
female painters who are prisoners of their category.
But some, such as Marie-Guillemine Benoist did break free.
Despite the critics, Elisabeth's former pupil
launched herself into genre painting,
like this portrait of a black woman which would become
a symbol of the emancipation of slaves and of feminism.
(speaking in foreign language)
You get the impression
there were very few women painters or artists
and that the men far outnumbered them
But you gradually realize that there really were quite a few
but they were kept in the shade
and forced into the background in regard to the men.
(speaking in foreign language)
Noting that lots of foreigners
were leaving to spend the summer in Naples,
Elisabeth decided to go there
after spending several months in Rome.
We reached Naples at about three or four o'clock.
(music swells dramatically)
I cannot describe the impression I received
upon entering the town.
That burning sun, that stretch of sea.
Those islands seen in the distance.
That Vesuvius with a great column
of smoke ascending from it.
I was enchanted by all of it.
(speaking in foreign language)
In Naples one of the first people
she got to know was Lord Hamilton,
in who's entourage was the famous Lady Hamilton,
or rather the soon to be Lady Hamilton,
whom the artist painted many times.
(speaking in foreign language)
Owing to her extraordinary physique
she was already sitting for Reynolds
and her likenesses were well known throughout Europe.
Emma Hart, the future Lady Hamilton,
began her career in a London tavern.
Thanks to her astonishing beauty she found,
with several English gentlemen, the protection she required.
Despite her scandalous reputation,
Emma managed in 1791 to wed Lord Hamilton,
British Ambassador to Naples.
The portrait of her as Sybil would be used by Elisabeth
as a reference work to acquire new clients.
(speaking in foreign language)
This portrait would be
very important in her career.
She carried it with her and at each stage
of her European tour would unroll it,
pin it in a frame, and thus advertise her talent.
(speaking in foreign language)
In Naples she was soon introduced to the Royal family.
More particularly, to Marie Caroline,
who was Marie Antoinette's elder sister.
Elisabeth was very moved
by the striking resemblance between the two sisters
and painted a portrait of Marie Caroline
in virtually the same pose as Marie Antoinette.
Of this fine portrait only copies remain.
One morning in the summer of 1790
French Ambassador Baron de Tyhome
brought her a commission from the Queen of Naples,
that of the portrait of her two daughters
whom she sought to marry.
The hour of noon was appointed for the sittings.
And to attend I was obliged to follow
the Chiatamone Road in the heat of the day.
The sun's reflection was so vivid
that I was almost struck blind.
To save my eyes I put on a green veil,
which I had never seen anyone else do,
and which must have looked rather peculiar
since only black or white veils were worn.
But a few days after I saw several English women
imitating me and green veils came into fashion.
The fashion was launched,
and with a hint of vanity she boasted
of inventing a style that other women adopted.
Though a pioneer of fashion abroad
she didn't want to be forgotten in France.
So, using Menageot as go-between
she sent off a portrait to the Salon du Louvre.
(speaking in foreign language)
For the 1791 Salon, she sent,
rolled in a painting by Menageot,
her portrait of Paisiello, the musician.
A magnificent portrait which was exhibited
with the paintings of David, et cetera.
(speaking in foreign language)
She painted him in 1790
and she recounted the sitting.
Both of them were extremely cold.
He found it hard to play the harpsichord.
And she had trouble painting
because their fingers were frozen.
And she painted him in a moment of inspiration.
His eyes were raised heavenward,
he was composing on the harpsichord
and seemed to be seeking divine inspiration.
It's a recurring image
in Madame Vigee Le Brun's body of work.
She also painted Angelica Catalani, a soprano,
one of Paisiello's artists,
also in this attitude of divine inspiration.
(cheerful flute music)
While Elisabeth was persona non grata
in France her rival Adelaide Labille-Guiard,
who rallied to the revolutionary cause
portrayed Robespierre and his friends,
thus attempting to ensure the support
of the new strongmen in Paris.
Back in Rome, Madame Vigee Le Brun returned
to her friend Francois Menageot and set to work once more.
Two daughters of Louis XV, Madame Adelaide
and Madame Victoire, both in exile, called her
and during a sitting informed her of some tragic news.
(suspenseful orchestral music)
In the night of June the 21st, 1791
the royal family left the Tuilieries Palace in secret
and took a coach bound for Lorraine towards
the French troops that had remained loyal to the king.
Traveling with fake passports the runaways
were nonetheless recognized in Varen
and taken back to Paris by the National Guard.
The royal escape was viewed
as a betrayal of the constitution.
The idea of a republic was gaining ground
and supporters of the abolition of the monarchy
used this event to accuse Louis XVI
of rallying to France's enemies.
(speaking in foreign language)
The artist had planned to return to France
after a three year stay in Italy.
On the way she lingered in Tuscany,
where her love of nature was matched
by the richness of the landscapes.
She made a visit to Venice where she was charmed
by it's architecture on wooden piles
and by the many parties she attended
with a writer and engraver friend, also a refugee,
Dominic Vivant Denon, who had fun
making an engraving of her self-portrait.
Keen to return to France, Elisabeth headed to Turin.
But the city was filled with emigres
fleeing the bloody massacres in Paris
from September the 2nd to the 7th, 1792.
On entering the town, great heavens.
Street squares were all filled
with thousands of people of all ages
who had fled from French towns
and come to Turin in search of a home.
This sight broke my heart.
Trembling I dared only ask for news of my mother,
my brother, Monsieur Le Brun, and all my friends,
and abandoned the plan of going to Paris.
The young woman realized
that she couldn't return to France.
Shattered, she turned back towards Milan.
She was advised by Count Vilcek,
Austrian Ambassador to Milan, and decided
to try to win over a new clientele in Vienna.
Elisabeth entered the Holy Roman capital
in summer 1792 and there she stayed for three years.
(speaking in foreign language)
Her time was split between concerts,
melancholy strolls in Schonnbrunn,
and of course the production of paintings
for all the Poles and the diplomats in Vienna.
(dramatic orchestral music)
I worked a great deal in Vienna.
It would be difficult to express all the gratitude
I felt for the reception I was afforded in this town.
Not only did the Viennese express their affection
for me personally, they thought it stylish
to place my paintings in a way that set them off best.
Elisabeth was a perfect colorist
who had learned to grind pigments into powder
by binding them with various raw or cooked oils.
She claimed that these preparations
were the secret of her color's freshness.
But the quick drying paint had to be used immediately.
Not until 1841 did the revolutionary tin foil tube of paint
allow painters to carry their already prepared colors.
Viewed as an immigrant Madame Vigee Le Brun
lost her citizen's rights.
In 1793 her husband published a long plea
that his wife be permitted to return to Paris.
A petition signed by 255 artists
was handed to the authorities to no avail.
Le Brun was arrested and incarcerated for several months
as was Elisabeth's brother Ettiene.
Le Brun, to protect himself and to preserve their assets,
filed for divorce which was granted in 1794.
In Vienna she was glad to find the Comte Du Vudray
who's closeness to the court
had forced him into exile in 1789.
But the pleasure of their meeting
was soon overshadowed by echoes of the terror.
In early 1793 devastating news spread across Europe.
I just heard of the horrible occurrence
through my brother who wrote it down and sent the letter
without giving any further particulars whatever.
He's heartbroken.
He simply wrote that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
had perished on the scaffold.
Afterward, from compassion toward myself
I always abstained from putting the least question
concerning what accompanied or preceded that awful murder.
King, queen, friend.
I lost all of them.
Elisabeth listened
to the Russian Ambassador's suggestion
that there was new wealthy clientele to be found.
Despite the distance and the risks of such a journey,
she decided to try her hand in St. Petersburg.
(speaking in foreign language)
She left Vienna
with a few letters of recommendation
and a passport and a stage by stage itinerary.
Berlin, Dresden, Potsdam,
Rheinsberg, where she stayed with Prince Henry of Prussia,
brother to the king.
Konigsberg, Riga, and finally St. Petersburg.
3,000 kilometers of exhausting, sometimes dangerous roads.
(soulful piano music)
Elisabeth and Brunette moved into an apartment
located on the main Winter Palace square.
From her windows she could gaze upon
the splendor of the imperial residence
and the nobility of the angles described
by the avenues that opened up before her.
(speaking in foreign language)
She arrived in summer 95,
the end of Catherine the Great's reign.
(speaking in foreign language)
It was a time when all French immigrants
looked upon Russia as the new land of Renaissance.
(speaking in foreign language)
Back then revolution was a constant.
(speaking in foreign language)
All the kings were engaged in wars
and the two countries where peace reigned were Russia
and the United States of America, the new world.
(speaking in foreign language)
Sophie Friederike Auguste,
the future Catherine the Great, was a daughter
of German Prince Christian August von Anhalt-Zerbst.
At 15 she married the future Peter III of Russia.
Immature and unstable, Peter was overthrown
six months into his reign by a coup d'etat
organized by his wife and was strangled several days later,
no doubt by her lover Count Grigory Orlov.
French speaking and extremely cultured,
Catherine became sovereign Empress
and reigned for more than 30 years.
Two days after her arrival in St. Petersburg,
Madame Vigee was officially summoned
to an audience with the Tsarina.
Perhaps too sure of her standing as an international artist,
and wearing a simple white tunic unsuited to the situation,
she forgot the ceremonial kissing of the hand
and simply bowed without kneeling to the Empress.
This hiccup in protocol was considered offensive
by the imperial courtiers
who became hostile to the portraitist.
Despite that her celebrity as Marie Antoinette's painter
kindled the interest and curiosity
of the St. Petersburg nobility.
(speaking in foreign language)
She asked her husband
to send her grand portrait of the queen
in a blue dress and a white petticoat as she put it.
She received the painting and duly hung it in her workshop,
and that painting would constitute a reference.
People would come to her workshop to admire the painting.
She could still be called the queen's painter.
At least that was how she wanted to present herself.
While artists can be itinerant,
works of art can also travel.
By then the most efficient method
was to unpin them from their frames,
roll them up, and send them that way.
Upon reception they were unrolled,
and pinned in another frame.
(speaking in foreign language)
Usually the paint is rolled innermost
and that's the way they are transported.
But I think she also says in her memoirs
that some paintings she sent for arrived very damaged.
(speaking in foreign language)
Whatever the case, she was still best able
to restore them since they were her own.
(speaking in foreign language)
Madame Le Brun was particularly touched
by the welcome bestowed upon her by the Russian nobility.
Princess Dolgorukova invited her for a week to her dacha,
where she made the acquaintance of someone who was
to be very important to her, Princess Korokina,
who would later be the dedicatee of her memoirs
and an extremely loyal friend.
All the young ladies of the Russian nobility
spoke French and they warmly welcomed this ambassador
of fashion, taste, and French customs.
(speaking in foreign language)
In the 18th century
all Russians had to make a pilgrimage to Paris,
not for studies obviously.
In Paris they would learn how to dress, to speak,
even how to cough, blow one's nose, and wear a hat properly.
In short, to become a perfect Parisian.
Though her famous Greek supper
made headlines in France in 1789,
her reputation for high living crossed borders.
In St. Petersburg they still talk of a party
costing 40,000 pounds, the equivalent of 400,000 euros,
whereas Elisabeth speaks only of 15 pounds.
She dressed her models in the Greek style,
significant in Russia, and that she herself
claimed to have made fashionable.
(speaking in foreign language)
The artist was able to create for herself
a certain dress style expressed in such a way
that her charm and the attraction she exerted
over her circle encouraged the desire to imitate her.
The mid 18th century witnessed
an explosion of Greco mania with the spread
of engravings that reproduced frescoes
found in Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Even the revolutionary celebrations
were inspired by antiquity.
In France, after the terror the first Mervieilleux
adopted excentric fashions, dressed in light
or even transparent tunics, high belts and large bonnets.
Corsets and panniers were abandoned.
And the tall voluminous hairstyles
gave way to a natural look.
It truly was a drastic revolution in clothing,
the like of which had never been seen.
Elisabeth also excelled in another type of representation.
The world of childhood.
Her self-portrait dubbed motherly love
prompted Russian ladies to commission
their own portraits with their children.
(speaking in foreign language)
In the 18th century
a new sensibility arose around childhood.
Previously the child wasn't really thought of as a person.
They weren't even sure if it had a soul.
This idea of a child as a person in their own right
gradually led to more and more family portraits.
(speaking in foreign language)
The empress, who loved her two granddaughters,
the Archduchesses Elena and Alexandra,
placed an order for their portrait.
Elisabeth painted them as rather languid
in an atmosphere of innocence with bare arms.
And Catherine took great offense at that.
And she complained about it and Vigee Le Brun
had to scrape it off the canvas and start all over again.
(speaking in foreign language)
It just would not do.
Even the portrait of these little girls
had to embody the power of the nation
as she herself embodied the strength
of the world's greatest empire.
(speaking in foreign language)
It was during this same period
that she met Stanislaw Poniatowski, deposed king of Poland,
then under house arrest in St. Petersburg.
Sent by his uncle to Russia, Stanislaw benefited
from the protection of Catherine the Great,
who became besotted with the young man
and had him restored to the Polish throne.
He was the last king of an independent Poland.
(speaking in foreign language)
She told an anecdote
one day when she was painting he came to her workshop
and she called out I'm not at home.
(speaking in foreign language)
The king left.
She then realized how bold she had been
and in turn went to see him to proffer her excuses.
(speaking in foreign language)
He told her he quite understood
how a very busy artist shouldn't be disturbed
and wasn't at all angry.
(speaking in foreign language)
And there we have an insight into the character
of this man she particularly liked.
She painted a very flattering portrait of him in words.
Stanislaw was tall, gentle, kind, et cetera.
You can tell that theirs was a beautiful friendship.
Despite her mother's wishes to the contrary,
Brunette was determined to marry
a young impecunious secretary from St. Petersburg
of Italian origin, Guytano Negris.
The rows became increasingly violent.
Madame Le Brun gave in to her daughter
and obtained her husband's consent to Julie's marriage.
(dramatic string music)
Owing to the distance,
her father's answer was long delayed
and someone convinced her that I had only written
to Monsieur Le Brun to prevent him from assenting
to what she called her felicity.
She said to me one day "I post your letters,
"but I am sure you write others to the contrary."
I was stunned and heartbroken.
When at that very moment the postman arrived with a letter
from Monsieur Le Brun giving his consent.
But the cruel child showed not the least gratitude
at what I had done for her in immolating
all my wishes, hopes and dislikes.
The wedding was nevertheless enacted a few days later.
After almost seven years
in Russia Madame Vigee, tempted to settle
in St. Petersburg for good, bitterly faced the facts.
(speaking in foreign language)
Towards the end of her stay,
orders were fewer than at the beginning
because in fact there weren't ever
that many prospective clients.
(speaking in foreign language)
(melancholy orchestral music)
The breakup with Julie was complete.
Mother and daughter no longer spoke to one another.
She held no official position,
her clientele was becoming scarcer,
and she had to go to Moscow to consolidate her fortune.
Her health deteriorated
and she became prone to fits of melancholy.
In June 1800 she learned that she had been removed
from the list of emigres, meaning that nothing
stood in the way of her return to France.
Despite regret as she thought of Russia as her second home,
she made up her mind to return to Paris.
(speaking in foreign language)
She returned to France alone
and was amazed how much the smiling, pleasant landscapes
of her outward journey now seemed dull, sad, and melancholy.
(speaking in foreign language)
A landscape is a state of the soul she would say,
so for her it was a sad return.
After a long and arduous trip
Elisabeth entered the capital with a heavy heart
on January the 18th, 1802.
Jean-Baptiste was waiting for her
on the steps of the Hotel Liberte.
Despite their divorce the emotion was palpable.
That night he made a laconic entry in his notebook.
Arrival in Paris Madame Vigee.
Her absence, from her departure
on October the 6th to January the 18th, 1802
lasted 12 years, three months, and 12 days.
(speaking in foreign language)
She realized that the world had changed.
She could not get used to Parisian life, to French life.
Customs had changed.
It was no longer the society she had known.
(dramatic percussion music)
After the coup d'etat
of November the 9th, 1799,
which overthrew the French Directory,
the constitution of the year eight
established an authoritarian political regime
headed by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte,
a brilliant general swept to prominence
by the success of his campaigns in Italy and Egypt.
Five years later, in 1804 Bonaparte declared himself
Emperor of the French People and became Napoleon the First.
(quick instrumental music)
A new nobility was established in the mansions of Paris,
but Madame Le Brun, devoted to the Bourbons
and the Ancien regime couldn't get used to
their ways and displayed a hostility
that soon displeased the new emperor.
She stays in Paris just a short time
and she fulfills several commissions
she had received while she was in Russia
and she made pastel studies of certain people
that she produced oil portraits of
and then sent them back to Russia and to Germany.
In late 1802 Madame Vigee announced her intention
to take a two year trip to England
in the hope of finding a new clientele.
She picked up her brushes and her paint box
and traveled to London.
At the time England
boasted some 800 portraitists.
Competition was fierce and the artist's
extremely expensive fees tended to work against her.
(speaking in foreign language)
Very soon Madame Vigee Le Brun
stepped back from English society,
which she found profoundly dull and monotonous
and said "I am not surprised English
"adopted the word spleen.
"Your mirth equates to our boredom."
A cabal headed by the painter Hoppner
didn't help her status as a foreigner
in the kingdom of Great Britain.
Hoppner never got anywhere near the prices
that she got so he was very very upset.
And he was something of a poet so he wrote a poem.
And he really gives her, you know, like we say here,
he gives her the what for.
(dramatic percussion music)
As the Emperor wished to portray
the members of his dynasty, Madame Vigee,
in Paris once more, received an official commission
for the portrait of his sister Caroline, Princess Murat.
The artist, unable to refuse, grudgingly did her duty.
The thoughtless Caroline's repeated lateness
for her sittings exasperated the portraitist,
who observed, "I have painted real princesses
"who never worried me and never made me wait."
(sharp, abstract music)
In the summer of 1807 Paris was invaded by stifling heat.
Madame Vigee bowed to the alpine fashion
and organized a trip to Switzerland.
(speaking in foreign language)
Twice in 1807 and 1808
she travels a different circuit through Switzerland.
On this occasion she stayed
with Madame de Stael.
Germain de Stael was living in semi-exile
in the Chateau de Coppet.
The literary and philosophical salon she held in Paris
had aroused the suspicions of the Emperor
who forbade her from reentering France.
Elisabeth and Madame de Stael shared a love of the arts
and a hostility towards Napoleon.
The author of Corrine, ou l'Italie
and the portraitist were two illustrious women,
defenders of the Ancien regime, and totally independent.
By then 50 years old, Madame Le Brun
seemed to feel a new freedom and self-awareness.
Finally released from commercial constraints she discovered
the freedom of painting landscapes in the wild.
(speaking in foreign language)
She set off to stroll
around the houses and apartments where she lived
and translate what she saw into pastels.
Particularly, the landscapes.
While Madame Le Brun had a trained eye
for finding the most beautiful views for her landscapes,
she also had an extremely fine ear
and an acoustic sensitivity that enabled her
to identify all manner of sound.
(speaking in foreign language)
Her sense of hearing was not unlike
the one we see among 20th century composers
specializing in electro-acoustic music.
They talk of acousmatic sound.
Listening without knowing where the sound comes from,
live a revving engine or a falling saucepan, anything.
It is interesting in itself.
It's a sound that deserves to be heard,
and possibly used in music.
Well, her ear was just like that.
It was a quite extraordinary modern side to her.
The painter sought a refuge
and finally found piece of mind when she bought
her own house surrounded by a large garden
in the village of Louveciennes near Paris.
After the disastrous Russian campaign
the frontiers of the French Empire were trembling
as Napoleon's policy of conquest came to an end.
In the night of March the 31st, 1814
the Prussians sacked the village of Louveciennes
and barged into Madame Le Brun's house,
emptying desks and wardrobes.
She owed her salvation to her servant Joseph
who spoke German and managed to engineer her escape.
(pastoral orchestral music)
On April the 3rd, 1814 the Senate
proclaimed the deposition of Napoleon.
Charles, Count of Artois and brother of Louis XVI
preceded his brother, the future Louis XVIII
and made a triumphant entrance into Paris on April the 12th.
Loyal royalist Madame Le Brun left her house
in Louveciennes and hastened to the capital,
where she cried tears of joy
for the restoration of the Bourbons.
But her happiness was short lived,
shattered by news of her daughter Brunette,
who had separated from her husband
and was living in a modest boarding house in Paris.
She was slowly sinking into poverty.
The links between mother and daughter had weakened.
Destroyed by drink and occasional prostitution,
Julie had contracted in syphilis.
Informed of her plight, Madame Le Brun
hurried to her bedside.
I hastened to her
as soon as I heard of her illness.
But the disease progressed rapidly
and I cannot tell what I felt
when all all hope of saving her was gone.
(tense instrumental music)
When going to see her the last day,
my eyes fell upon that dreadfully sunken face.
I fainted away.
(sorrowful string music)
Brunette.
(speaking in foreign language)
The next day I was childless.
I saw her again.
I still see her in the days of her childhood.
Alas, she was so young.
Why did she not survive me?
Madame Le Brun didn't understand
what mistakes she'd made with Julie.
Didn't she try to pass on her passion for painting?
Closeness turned to incomprehension
and then into violent disputes.
The independent young woman couldn't find her place
alongside her too talented, too famous mother.
Madame Le Brun looked to her nieces
for comfort and passed on to them
her precious advice on portrait painting.
(speaking in foreign language)
It is interesting to note just how much,
when you look at this work and read the advice
she gives to Eugenie Tripe Le Fount.
Her counsel mirrors her execution.
(speaking in foreign language)
She says, the shadows must be both strong and transparent,
not thickened, and in a mature tone,
accompanied by firm, lively touches
in the cavities such as the eye socket,
the recess of the nostrils,
and the shadowy internal parts of the ear.
And it's true that when you come closer
and study the recess of the eye you have a whole series
of strokes in red and black chalk
that provide the eyes with their shadow.
It seems to me that as a technical artist
Vigee Le Brun is extremely gifted.
For a woman who did not have formal training
she is an impeccable technician.
And on of the things about her works
is that if they haven't been interfered with
or suffered some accidental damage they're likely
to be in extremely good state of preservation.
She must have known a lot about color
because you rarely see any of these discolorations
which are caused by alterations in the material.
France underwent another revolution,
the July Revolution of 1830.
The people of Paris rose up against the authority
of Charles X, barricaded the streets,
and clashed with the armed forces resulting in 1,000 deaths.
The son of Phillipe Egalite, who had voted
for the execution of King Louis the XVI
took the throne under the name Louis Philippe.
It was the start of a new era
and no longer that of Madame Le Brun.
She gave herself over to memories of happier times.
For a dozen years she took notes and wrote,
aided by her nieces who copied out the manuscript.
She appended corrections in the margin.
(speaking in foreign language)
Presumably she began
to write her memoirs when she wrote her first will.
(speaking in foreign language)
It's as if she felt at peace with herself
and that it was time to let herself write down her memories.
I think it was a much deeper desire.
That of wanting to live a second time
and to relive those moments of happiness.
Because there is something very characteristic
in the writing of these memoirs
that radiates a glow of happiness, of discovery,
and the most negative things in her life
were only to be found in the accompanying documents.
(soothing string music)
So she wanted to leave a portrait of herself
that she herself sanctioned.
So she listened to the advisors
and she started to write them.
It used to be said that she didn't actually write them,
there were ghostwriters who worked for her.
This is not true because we know
that there are big batches of her original manuscripts.
Though these memoirs are a precious document
in terms of the world she encountered
they're equally important as an account of her own life.
Madame Vigee Le Brun recalled a scene with Marie Antoinette
whose veracity still causes controversy.
One day I happened to miss the appointment
she had given me for a sitting.
Far gone in my second pregnancy
I had suddenly become unwell.
The next day I hastened to her side to offer my excuses.
Her majesty was finishing her toilet.
My heart was beating violently
for I knew that I was in the wrong.
(tense orchestral music)
But the queen looked up at me and said, most amiably,
"I was waiting for you all the morning yesterday.
"What happened to you?"
"I'm sorry to say, your majesty," I replied,
"I was so ill that I was unable to comply
"with your majesty's commands.
"I am here to receive more now,
"and then I will immediately retire."
"No, no, do not go," exclaimed the queen.
"I do not want you to have made your journey for nothing."
She revoked the order for her carriage
and she gave me a sitting.
I remember that in my confusion and my eagerness
to make a fitting response to her kind words
I opened my paintbox so excitedly
that I spilled my brushes on the floor.
I stooped down to pick them up.
"Never mind, never mind," said the queen.
And for aught I could say she insisted
on gathering them all up herself.
(upbeat instrumental music)
(speaking in foreign language)
Naturally it's good for Vigee Le Brun's ego
to say that the queen picked up her brushes,
and that's what you'd put in your memoirs.
Many testimonies support the assertion
that Marie Antoinette was a simple woman,
close to her suppliers who sometimes dispensed
with protocol, so this anecdote seems probable.
It's inclusion in her memoirs indicates that Vigee Le Brun
attached a lot of importance to this too.
(speaking in foreign language)
There's a tendency to embellish the past.
That's quite natural, and to favor the good memories.
You can at once be quite sincere and yet in reality
it may be a lie from a strictly historical perspective.
But this doesn't mean her version is insincere.
(speaking in foreign language)
Aged almost 80, Madame Vigee
was still a famous personality in Paris.
Summer Sundays in Louveciennes, winter in her
Parisian apartment in the Saint-Lazare neighborhood.
She threw parties where the younger generations,
drawn by her reputation, would love to hear her anecdotes.
Chateaubriand, Vernet, Musset and Balzac
seemed fascinated by this woman,
a brilliant conversationalist who was once painter
to Marie Antoinette and the courts of Europe.
(speaking in foreign language)
She had a poetic sensibility
and received Vernet at her salon.
She received Chateaubriand.
She liked reading Le Martine although she didn't really
appreciate Victor Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris.
Politically she resembles a person like Chateaubriand
who was very much in favor of a constitutional monarchy.
I think she would have preferred the old regime
as it was but a constitutional monarchy
would have worked for her also.
(speaking in foreign language)
This sensitivity to new forms
and new poetry changed her taste.
(speaking in foreign language)
She was on the lookout
for what was happening.
She heard of Chopin and things like that.
It was her musical gateway to what we might call modernity.
It heralded the romantic generation which interested her.
Artist's of 1840 rediscovered
the charm of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
and embraced neo-Gothic fashion.
In painting the ruins of cathedrals
replaced Hubert Robert's Roman remains.
Knights in armor and princesses in headdresses
relived the romance of 15th century epics.
The symbolic Notre Dame de Paris had two new heroes,
Victor Hugo and the architect Viollet-le-Duc.
In all the new generation of painters she knew them.
She was very close to Gros
whom she had seen born
and to whom she had given his first lessons in drawing.
The indefatigable Madame Le Brun
continued to paint with unfailing energy.
And though her pace no longer had the likeness
of yesteryear the faces were still lit
by the golden light that had made her famous.
(upbeat piano music)
In tandem with the troubadour style nostalgia,
mid 19th century France was undergoing
profound social, economic and political change.
The accession of the bourgeoisie
to manufacturing and financial affairs
proved a huge shot in the arm for economic growth.
This was the industrial revolution
which was accompanied by the rise of railways
and technical advances in new energies,
textiles, and metallurgy.
It might be fun to imagine the doubtful reaction
of Queen Marie Antoinette's portraitist faced with
these curious miniatures bearing the strange name
daguerreotypes which first appeared in 1835.
The static bodies, frozen expressions,
poor quality rendering and the crudeness of reality
probably inspired thoughts of the end of a world.
Her world, that of a talented portrait artist who knew
so well how to embellish the face and to convey the soul.
(suspenseful piano riff)
She passed away quietly in April 1842,
attended by her nieces,
having painted more than 660 portraits,
known fame criticism, luxury and exile,
monarchies and revolutions, the greatest artists
and the most powerful Europeans of her time.
Having covered countless ten of thousands of kilometers,
the tireless traveler, 87 years old,
chose this epitaph for her grave in Louveciennes:
"Here, at last, I rest."
(gentle orchestral music)