DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61284#0328
172
VIGEE-LEBRUN
were left to amuse themselves as they liked best till the evening, when,
after dinner, she made her first appearance in the general company. “You
could see her thus walking about the drawing-room, holding a sprig of
foliage. While she talked, she shook that little branch, and spoke with an
animation which was peculiar to herself. It was impossible to interrupt
her ; at such moments she gave me the impression of an improvisatrice.”
On one evening at least Madame de Stael had to abandon this kind of
“ conversation.” Some amateur theatricals were given, and Semiramis was
the drama boldly selected. Madame de Stael herself took the part of
Azema, in which “ she had some fine moments, but her playing was very
uneven,” while Madame Recamier was overcome by stage-fright in the
title-role ! The men were no better. “ I have always observed,” says
Madame Lebrun, “ that amateurs ought only to try comedies and pro-
verbs, never tragedies,” and her observation will be generally endorsed.
The mornings of that week at Coppet were partly taken up with the
earlier stages of the portrait of Madame de Stael, whom Vigee-Lebrun
chose to represent as Corinne, seated, with a lyre in her hands, upon a
rock, as Corinne sat when she sang her improvised verses at Cape Miseno.
The sittings for the portrait were of a remarkable character. “ Madame
de Stael,” says the artist, “ was not pretty, but the animation of her face
took the place of beauty. In order that she might sustain the expression
that I wished to give to her face, I begged her to recite to me some tragic
verses, to which I hardly listened, so much was I occupied in trying to
represent her with an inspired air. When she had finished her tirades,
I said to her, ‘ Go on reciting ’ ; she replied, ‘ But you don’t listen to
me,’ and I responded, ‘ Go on, all the same.’ Understanding at length my
intention, she continued to declaim passages from Corneille and from
Racine.”
It may be added here that it was ten months before the completed
portrait arrived from Paris, where it was finished without sittings, and that
Madame de Stael seems to have been pleased with what was undoubtedly
a flattering representation of a plain woman. She at once sent a cheque,
apparently for a thousand ecus (about £200) ; but her affairs at that moment
requiring, as she had previously written to the artist’s daughter “ des
menagements de fortune,” the cheque was made payable for a date more
than six weeks later than its despatch.
After leaving Coppet, Madame Lebrun paid a visit to Ferney, and
here, as at the Isle Saint-Pierre, found how little reverence was yet paid
VIGEE-LEBRUN
were left to amuse themselves as they liked best till the evening, when,
after dinner, she made her first appearance in the general company. “You
could see her thus walking about the drawing-room, holding a sprig of
foliage. While she talked, she shook that little branch, and spoke with an
animation which was peculiar to herself. It was impossible to interrupt
her ; at such moments she gave me the impression of an improvisatrice.”
On one evening at least Madame de Stael had to abandon this kind of
“ conversation.” Some amateur theatricals were given, and Semiramis was
the drama boldly selected. Madame de Stael herself took the part of
Azema, in which “ she had some fine moments, but her playing was very
uneven,” while Madame Recamier was overcome by stage-fright in the
title-role ! The men were no better. “ I have always observed,” says
Madame Lebrun, “ that amateurs ought only to try comedies and pro-
verbs, never tragedies,” and her observation will be generally endorsed.
The mornings of that week at Coppet were partly taken up with the
earlier stages of the portrait of Madame de Stael, whom Vigee-Lebrun
chose to represent as Corinne, seated, with a lyre in her hands, upon a
rock, as Corinne sat when she sang her improvised verses at Cape Miseno.
The sittings for the portrait were of a remarkable character. “ Madame
de Stael,” says the artist, “ was not pretty, but the animation of her face
took the place of beauty. In order that she might sustain the expression
that I wished to give to her face, I begged her to recite to me some tragic
verses, to which I hardly listened, so much was I occupied in trying to
represent her with an inspired air. When she had finished her tirades,
I said to her, ‘ Go on reciting ’ ; she replied, ‘ But you don’t listen to
me,’ and I responded, ‘ Go on, all the same.’ Understanding at length my
intention, she continued to declaim passages from Corneille and from
Racine.”
It may be added here that it was ten months before the completed
portrait arrived from Paris, where it was finished without sittings, and that
Madame de Stael seems to have been pleased with what was undoubtedly
a flattering representation of a plain woman. She at once sent a cheque,
apparently for a thousand ecus (about £200) ; but her affairs at that moment
requiring, as she had previously written to the artist’s daughter “ des
menagements de fortune,” the cheque was made payable for a date more
than six weeks later than its despatch.
After leaving Coppet, Madame Lebrun paid a visit to Ferney, and
here, as at the Isle Saint-Pierre, found how little reverence was yet paid