COLLECTION NAME:
Undergraduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and the Creation of Celebrity Culture
Creator:
Jones, Caeley
Subject:
Thesis (B.F.A.) -- Art History
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Art History
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842) became one of the most sought-after portrait artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, finding fame and fortune during her lifetime. Though not born as a member of the nobility, she attracted delegates of royal courts and grew her repertoire by painting wealthy European dignitaries. Splendidly Rococo in subject, color, and style, her paintings bridge the gaudiness of the past and the more austere strokes of Neoclassicism. Rising to fame as a royalist after becoming the court painter for Queen Marie Antoinette, she left France in exile after the French Revolution. Vigée Le Brun traveled around the continent and painted renowned nobility, but also figures like Lady Emma Hamilton and Madame Catherine Grand before their ascent to fame. The concept of the modern celebrity was becoming realized, and Vigée Le Brun's paintings reflected and promoted the rising cult of celebrity. Her works conflate portraiture and branding, as she essentially worked as a marketing agent with a paintbrush. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were turbulent for nobles across Europe, and she was assigned damage control. Shown in salons, her portraits were scrutinized by post-enlightenment thinkers who wanted a world without titles and by other artists who criticized her work. Capturing the softest expressions, Vigée Le Brun could convince viewers to believe anything, from the creation of a doting mother to a commoner deserving of becoming noble. Her subjects became celebrities during their lifetime, as did she. Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun recorded her thoughts about her subject's paths to infamy in her autobiography, 'The Memoirs of Madame Vigée Le Brun'. This paper will explain how Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun's ostentatious portraits of eighteenth and nineteenth-century nobility accelerated her subjects' rise to notoriety and contributed to the creation of modern celebrity culture." --Abstract
Keywords: Queen Marie Antoinette, celebrity, court painter, eighteenth century, Europe, French Revolution, Madame Catherine Grand, Lady Emma Hamilton, Neoclassical, nineteenth century, nobility, Rococo, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
Keywords: Queen Marie Antoinette, celebrity, court painter, eighteenth century, Europe, French Revolution, Madame Catherine Grand, Lady Emma Hamilton, Neoclassical, nineteenth century, nobility, Rococo, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia: Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2023-05
Format:
1 online resource: 1 PDF (Thesis, 50 pages, color illustrations)