Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History


    • Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Mademoiselle Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Mademoiselle Carreaux de Rosemond (died 1788), 1785
    Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (French, 1749–1803)
    Oil on canvas

    83 x 59 1/2 in. (210.8 x 151.1 cm)
    Gift of Julia A. Berwind, 1953 (53.225.5)

    Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was first apprenticed to a miniaturist and later, in 1769, studied the art of pastel with Maurice Quentin de La Tour. The rich palette and fine detail in the present picture, one of the earliest of her major works in oils, reflect her earlier training. In 1783, when Labille-Guiard and Vigée Le Brun were admitted to the French Academy, the number of women artists eligible for membership was limited to four, and this painting, which was exhibited to an admiring audience at the Salon of 1785, has been interpreted as a propaganda piece, arguing for the place of women in the Academy. The artist's fashionable dress asserts her femininity; the feminist mood is emphasized by the presence of her pupils and the statue of the Vestal Virgin in the background. Labille-Guiard achieved a certain success at court and, having painted a number of portraits of the aunts of Louis XVI, came to be known as Peintre des Mesdames. However, she sympathized with the Revolution and, unlike Vigée Le Brun, remained in France throughout her life.

    This work of art also appears on Connections: Artists by Themselves

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • De Jesús, Mary Sprinson. "Adélaïde Labille-Guiard's Pastel Studies of the Mesdames de France." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 43 (2008).
  • Laver, James. "Fashion, Art and Beauty." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 26, no. 3 (November, 1967).
    JSTOR | PDF
  • Gardner, Elizabeth E. "Four French Paintings from the Berwind Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 20, no. 9 (May, 1962).
    JSTOR | PDF
    • On view: Gallery 613
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    Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Mademoiselle Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Mademoiselle Carreaux de Rosemond (died 1788), 1785
    Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (French, 1749–1803)
    Oil on canvas

    83 x 59 1/2 in. (210.8 x 151.1 cm)
    Gift of Julia A. Berwind, 1953 (53.225.5)


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