Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun Paris 1755 - 1842

Nicolaï Bikov collection, by whom acquired at the Alexandrovo Manufactory of Russian Gobelins tapestries, St. Petersburg (according to the Sedelmeyer catalogue);
From whose heirs acquired by Pavel Delarov in 1879;
With Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris, 1913;
Possibly Señora E. Bustillo, Buenos Aires;
Possibly José de Santamarina collection.

Paris, Sedelmeyer Gallery, 100 Paintings by Old Masters, 1913, no. 75.

Catalogue of the Twelfth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters, exhibition catalogue, Paris 1913, p. 114, no. 75;
A. Blum, Madame Vigée-Lebrun, peintres des grandes dames du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1919, p. 5.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has an old lining that is still firm, and a strong old stretcher with protective wooden strips along the outer tacking edges. The old stretcher bar lines were once quite visible and have been retouched, including the central cross bar. The present varnish is also rather yellowed and presumably from the same period as the lining, but it is still transparent. There have been cleaning tests down the right edge. The original paint was clearly only lightly washed over the finely prepared canvas in places, and the ground is visible particularly in some outer areas of the sky. The more densely painted light sky around the figure is often rather well preserved, for instance on the right close to the figure in the rosy clouds below and on either side of the lower arm, but the outer sky was filled out in more diluted paint towards the right side and elsewhere, and a wide stretch down the right side is quite thin with many little strengthening retouchings. Much of the sky elsewhere is also sprinkled with little reinforcing touches, now slightly darkened, although the painting retains an overall balance nevertheless. The figure is largely finely preserved, with even the fine semi transparent veiling of the lilac drapery beautifully intact in general, apart from some thinness on the shoulder and chest where there are little surface retouchings, as also in the darkest part at the centre base. The green drapery is also beautifully preserved almost throughout, with rich unworn folds floating above, and strong unworn paint even in darker shade on the right of the figure, with occasional traces of older varnish in the crevices and only a few little retouchings in one or two more transparent places lower down. The vigorous brushwork of the head is intact and strong, as is the lighter paint in the arms, with many pentiments in the outlines and fingers. The reddish brown underlayer in the shadows of the flesh painting has been more vulnerable so that the shadow on the raised arm is rather thin, although not retouched, and the shadowy side of the face and hair is quite worn with various little darkened retouchings from the right upper lip across into the hair and down the dark side of the neck. However the details of the head including the lovely brushwork of the eyes, and much of the hair and jewellery and the red waist band are all in lovely condition, and the overall unity of the painting is finely retained even at present with the slightly messy accretions and old varnish. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In 1776, Elisabeth-Louise married the well-known art dealer Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun in what is likely to have been a marriage of convenience rather than one of love. The girl in this portrait has traditionally been identified as Jeanne Julie, their only daughter, who was born on 12th February 1780 and died prematurely at the age of twenty-nine. Her physiognomy may be compared with that in Vigée Le Brun’s Self-portrait with her daughter Jeanne Julie in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, of 1789,¹ or with another portrait, traditionally identified although without certainty, as Jeanne Julie in the guise of Flora, in which she appears at roughly the same age as in the present work.²

This painting can be dated for stylistic reasons to circa 1799.

We are grateful to Mr. Joseph Baillio of the Wildenstein Institute, New York, for endorsing the attribution to Vigée Le Brun on the basis of photographs.

1  See J. Baillio, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, exhibition catalogue, Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, 5 June - 8 August 1982, p. 75, reproduced fig. 26.
2  See Baillio, op. cit., pp. 119-21, cat. no. 50, reproduced fig. 50.