DARING

A lushly illustrated biography of the French painter Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842).

Relative to most women of her time, Vigée Le Brun enjoyed a remarkably unrestricted life. As a child she was taught by her father, a portrait painter who recognized her talent early on. Later she was mentored by landscape artist Joseph Vernet, achieving success while still in her teens. Drawing from numerous academic sources, as well as Vigée Le Brun’s own memoir (published in several volumes several years before she died), Pomeroy details the painter’s successes as well as her tribulations. Although she had the honor of being admitted to the prestigious Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, she had to flee Paris with her young daughter during the French Revolution: Her political views and association with her patron Marie Antoinette put her on the revolutionaries’ list of those stripped of their citizenship. Her husband, Pierre, who supported the revolution, remained behind and attempted to salvage her reputation. Travelling and painting to support herself, Vigée Le Brun was much sought after by the aristocracy of several countries, including Russian empress Catherine the Great. The book’s pleasing design includes numerous reproductions of Vigée Le Brun’s art and sidebars explaining relevant events and people (including Black painters from the French Caribbean colonies). Notably, the author furnishes information on the noblewomen whose portraits Le Brun painted, helping readers answer the question, “Where were the women?”

Beautifully executed; a visual and narrative treat.