Self-Portrait

Form

• Casual elegance to it
• Precise nonchalance
• Idealised, she was much older than she appears
• Well lit from upfront
• Grand manner portraiture
• Makes them large and in the forefront and casual yet composed
• Agrandises the sitter

Function

• She was in danger in the French Revolution so she made this once she fled
• Painted for the Fussi
• Considered a propaganda portrait because it puts her in the lead with all the male painters
• She is pretty, soft, and sophisticated
• Women had to calm men by reminding them their genders were different even though she could paint

Content

• She was 35 when she painted this
• She shows herself at work in a relaxed pose
• In most occurrences she wouldn’t be wearing this dress/ Turbin
• Painting Marie Antoinette

Context

• Lebrun into the Royal Academy specialized in portraiture and she was brought in because of Marie Antoinette
  • First woman and public felt like Antoniette pulled strings to get her in
• Many argue that he work was Rococo
• Lebrun fled because she was friends with Antoinette
• This was created after her departure from France
• Became enormously famous and ended up writing a story about her life

Learning Objective

18th c. “Natural” Self- Portrait

Themes

• Portrait
• Status
• Propaganda
• Ideal woman
• Duality