DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61284#0103
THE "CHAPEAU DE PAILLE ”
39
is given in an engraving done by J. G. Muller in 1785, wherein the chief
purpose of the picture is so entirely ignored that the whites of the eyes
give a nigger-like expression by their intense contrast to the heavily shaded
parts of the face. The Baron Portalis, in some remarks based on this
engraving, draws attention to the manner in which " this violent clashing
between the black and the white accentuates very happily the piquancy
of that very expressive countenance.” Thus the engraver conveys to the
critic exactly the opposite impression to that which the painter had striven,
with a large measure of success, to produce—of the contrast, not between
light and deep shade, but between a lesser and a greater light derived from
the sun directly and by reflexion. Madame Lebrun herself, in referring
to Muller’s print, justly observes that the black shadows of the engraving
take away all the effect of a picture of that kind.
In this same year which saw the making of one of Vigee-Lebrun’s
most notable self-portraits, her husband also was at work at his easel,
and made his first appearance at the Salon with a painting representing
a subject which must have appealed much more to him than to her. It
was called " A Toper embracing a Maid-servant.” No doubt it was
painted under the influence of Teniers and Ostade.
Soon after the Lebruns had returned to Paris, and largely on account
of the admiration aroused by the portrait after the manner of Rubens’
picture, Joseph Vernet decided to propose Vigee-Lebrun for election to
the Royal Academy of Painting. It was no light task which he had taken
upon himself, if he meant to see her elected, and but for the outside pres-
sure which was brought to bear on the members present at the election
it seems almost certain that she would have been rejected.
In the first place, the " director ” of this Academy, M. Pierre, who was
also "First Painter to the King,” was strongly opposed to the admission
of women; and in the second place, it was the general opinion among the
Academicians that if any more women were to be admitted the claims of
Adelaide Labille-Guiard ought first to be recognised. There were already
three women Academicians (Madame Roslin, the pastellist, Madame Coster,
a flower-painter, and Madame Vien, a miniaturist and painter of " still
life”), and that, thought M. Pierre and his friends, was already three too
many.
These adversaries began a campaign against Madame Lebrun’s can-
didature, in which the weapons employed were partly legitimate and
partly slanderous. The chief legitimate objection was that, her husband
39
is given in an engraving done by J. G. Muller in 1785, wherein the chief
purpose of the picture is so entirely ignored that the whites of the eyes
give a nigger-like expression by their intense contrast to the heavily shaded
parts of the face. The Baron Portalis, in some remarks based on this
engraving, draws attention to the manner in which " this violent clashing
between the black and the white accentuates very happily the piquancy
of that very expressive countenance.” Thus the engraver conveys to the
critic exactly the opposite impression to that which the painter had striven,
with a large measure of success, to produce—of the contrast, not between
light and deep shade, but between a lesser and a greater light derived from
the sun directly and by reflexion. Madame Lebrun herself, in referring
to Muller’s print, justly observes that the black shadows of the engraving
take away all the effect of a picture of that kind.
In this same year which saw the making of one of Vigee-Lebrun’s
most notable self-portraits, her husband also was at work at his easel,
and made his first appearance at the Salon with a painting representing
a subject which must have appealed much more to him than to her. It
was called " A Toper embracing a Maid-servant.” No doubt it was
painted under the influence of Teniers and Ostade.
Soon after the Lebruns had returned to Paris, and largely on account
of the admiration aroused by the portrait after the manner of Rubens’
picture, Joseph Vernet decided to propose Vigee-Lebrun for election to
the Royal Academy of Painting. It was no light task which he had taken
upon himself, if he meant to see her elected, and but for the outside pres-
sure which was brought to bear on the members present at the election
it seems almost certain that she would have been rejected.
In the first place, the " director ” of this Academy, M. Pierre, who was
also "First Painter to the King,” was strongly opposed to the admission
of women; and in the second place, it was the general opinion among the
Academicians that if any more women were to be admitted the claims of
Adelaide Labille-Guiard ought first to be recognised. There were already
three women Academicians (Madame Roslin, the pastellist, Madame Coster,
a flower-painter, and Madame Vien, a miniaturist and painter of " still
life”), and that, thought M. Pierre and his friends, was already three too
many.
These adversaries began a campaign against Madame Lebrun’s can-
didature, in which the weapons employed were partly legitimate and
partly slanderous. The chief legitimate objection was that, her husband