1755–1842

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was born in Paris, the daughter of a portrait painter. She became the favorite portraitist of Queen Marie Antoinette and was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1783. When the French Revolution began in 1789 she fled France, working with great success in Italy, Vienna, St. Petersburg and other cities. She painted some 660 portraits and wrote memoirs. She returned to Paris and died there in 1842.