Elisabeth Capturing Marie Antoinette

ELISABETH - LOUISE VIGEE - LEBRUN"S PORTRAIT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE WITH HER CHILDREN (1787)

Situates Marie and her kids in a classical high class building, surrounded by, and even wearing, bright red, burnt umber browns, deep green and golden accent everywhere with small aspects of white folded in. These colors are rich and vibrant setting the scene for high class society and communicating wealth. This happens further with the carpet an pillow of patterns, the grand clothing and hair pieces, curtains and column walls and uniquely beautiful and antique furniture. Specifically focusing on their clothing, you can see how delicately the artist is able to fold the fabric of the large gown on Marie. And how realistic the details of the black fuzzy fur against the draping red skirt is. Marie is also sporting a beautiful big hat with feather and ribbons falling down the back. The darker crimson ball gown of the older daughter with a feather in her hair, and the youngest daughter's pure white dress with a blue sash all represent an important day and an important family. It's curious how the son is a little off to the side doing his own thing. Which brings us to the arrangement of the family when the portrait was made. It doesn't exactly feel like a typical high society family portrait. There is a pillow on the ground and the placement of the children is sporadic. Th young boy is in front of the babies bassinet while the youngest girls, on the lap of marie, is trying to move around, and the girl to her left is affectionatley embracing her side. The kids have various expressions and seem to have affection on their faces but the mother looks almost solemn. Almost as if Marie had a reason for this portrait but the kids are indifferent, chaotic but are also loving to their mother. This is a typical portrait, a mother with her children however each has it's own portrayal of family dynamic and although we can only attempt to understand this one we have many tools to do so. I'm not sure what the artist's intent for this was or why this family portrait was valuable however it is a prestigious piece to have conducted and highlights some subtleties in class and diverging from the consistencies of the era through its lack of uniformity and it's mix of diverse expressions.