Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, also known as Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun or simply as Madame Le Brun, was a French painter who mostly specialized in portrait painting, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Self-portrait in a Straw Hat, 1782
Self-portrait at age sixteen, 1771, pastel.
Self-portrait with her Daughter Julie, 1786. Louvre Museum.
Marie Antoinette with a Rose, 1783. Palace of Versailles.
Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and private persons, or they may be inspired by admiration or affection for the subject. Portraits often serve as important state and family records, as well as remembrances.
Self-portrait of Nicolas Régnier painting a portrait of Vincenzo Giustiniani, 1623–24, Fogg Art Museum.
Frans Hals, later finished by Pieter Codde. De Magere Compagnie. 1637. Oil on canvas, 209 × 429 cm. Group portraits were important in Dutch Golden Age painting
Anthony van Dyck, Charles I in Three Positions, 1635–1636, shows profile, full face and three-quarter views, to send to Bernini in Rome, who was to sculpt a bust from this model.
Mme. Charpentier and her children, 1878, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
