Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
Portrait of Theresa, Countess Kinsky by Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun is a portrait painting made in 1793. The painting is large-scale and shows the full length standing figure of Theresa Kinsky. The figure’s pose is not formal, and yet not stiff, but shows a very leisurely pose. The composition is centralized having the figure set in the middle of the piece. The figure becomes one of two strong verticals that define the picture. The figure is as solid as the tree to her right. The scale of the portrait painting is life-size, having the figure about the same size as an average person. The cropping of the image is set to show the entire figure from the knees and up. The framing of the portrait is also important because it gives the audience a sense of a window, gazing at a beautiful figure. This portrait painting uses highly saturated colors. The painting is very modeled where the figure looks life like, having clear shadows and contour lines. The figure appears three dimensional because of use of this illusionistic technique. The paint application is very smooth. The blue dress appears to look like a shiny cloth, meaning that paint was layered thickly, and was applied carefully. It appears as if there are no
The conditions in which the painting was created came from patronage from the royal family of Kinsky. Vigée-Lebrun was a hired painter to paint portraits of the royal family. Wealthy aristocrats were the ones that ran the government. By being patron, Vigée-Lebrun was able to work under the best conditions any artist could have; to live with the royal family, use only the best supplies, and having plenty of time to complete the work. So, by working for the people who ran the government, and had power, a prosperous future was set for those artists. The style of the painting fits into the Classical category. The reason why, is because of the use of modeling, and having a very smooth and even paint application. This style was very popular during the late 1700s. It represented the styles that the masters taught to others. The painting was showing in the Paris Salon of 1793. This was not the first salon that Vigée-Lebrun had entered. In order for the works of art to be appreciated and noticed, many painters painted large. This portrait was painted at a size of 54-1/8 x 39-3/8 about 5 x 3.5 feet. The reason of such a normal size is because Vigée-Lebrun was already recognized for her other large works such as “Marie-Antonette With Her Chilren 1787.” The painting during the late 1700s, was amazing to the audience. “Vigée-Lebrun and David maintained a wary social relationship; the latter’s educatio
Some topics in this essay:
Theresa Kinsky,
Paris Salon,
Kinsky Vigée-Lebrun,
Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun,
Period Vigée-Lebrun,
style painting,
royal family,
portrait painting,
entire piece,
theresa kinsky,
late 1700s,
portrait audience,
paint application,
ran government,
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Approximate Word count = 960
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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