References Année litteraire 8 (1785) [transcribed in Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 349, p. 796], notes that this painting met with almost universal approval at the Salon; calls it not only Labille-Guiard's most beautiful portrait, but one of the most accomplished works of the Salon; reports that Madame Adélaïde [the eldest surviving daughter of Louis XV] was so dazzled by this portrait that she offered to buy it for 10,000 livres.Avis important d'une femme sur le sallon de 1785, par madame E.A.R.T.L.A.D.C.S., dédié aux femmes . Paris, 1785, pp. 28–29 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 344], hails this self-portrait as bringing together all the conventions of history painting with that of portraiture; notes that she [he] hears repeatedly, based on the firmness of execution, decisiveness of tone, etc., that "this woman [the artist] is a man". . . "as if my sex were to be eternally condemned to mediocrity . . ."; suggests that the figure and head of Labille's likeness could have been provided with greater movement.Mémoires secrets pour servir à l'histoire de la République des Lettres 30 (1785), pp. 183–84 [see Ref. Passez 1973; reprinted in B. Fort, "Les Salons des 'Mémoires secrets,' 1767–1787," Paris, 1999, p. 297, fig. 53], calls it a "tableau historié," her most striking painting [at the Salon] and the subject of general admiration.Deuxième promenade de critès au sallon . London, 1785, pp. 36–37 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 334], greatly admires this portrait and comments with emotion on the skill of the artist and the physical charms of the sitters; quotes M. le Barbier's reaction to the work.Discours sur l'origine, les progrès et l'état actuel de la peinture en France. . . Paris, 1785, p. 39 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 325].Impromptu sur le sallon des tableaux exposés au Louvre en 1785. Dialogue en vers. London, 1785, pp. 9–10 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 338], praises this picture in rhymed verse.Inscriptions pour mettre au bas de differens tableaux exposés au Sallon du Louvre en 1785 . London, 1785, p. 7 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 343], praises this picture.Journal de Paris (September 17, 1785) [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14. no. 351, pp. 830–31, transcribed; see Ref. Passez 1973 for date], regards it as an example of "great beauty," and admires it as much for the simple and graceful manner of its composition as for the "finesse" of the tone of the ensemble and the beautiful harmony that is at the foundation of the picture.Journal général de France (1785) [transcribed in Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 363, pp. 922–23], praises this picture.Journal général de France (1785), p. 19 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 339, p. 549; transcribe extracts from the Journal], comments that this picture is the most successful and most praiseworthy of the artist's works displayed at the 1785 salon; presents Labille-Guiard and Vigée Le Brun as rivals.Jugement d'un musicien sur le salon de peinture de 1785 . Amsterdam, 1785, p. 16 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 341], notes that Labille-Guiard rivals Vigée Le Brun with several portraits that are well-composed and well-painted, but above all with this self-portrait.Le frondeur ou dialogues sur le sallon . 1785, pp. 38–39 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 329], calls it a "surprising" portrait.Le peintre anglais au salon de peintures, exposées au Louvre en l'année 1785 . 1785, p. 24 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 327], cites this picture as an example of the artist's considerable skill in oil painting, remarking that it displays an "astonishing realism" and that the fabrics are well executed.L'espion des peintures de l'académie royale . 1785, p. 36 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 337], remarks that the figure of the artist is very well executed and that she appears more occupied by her art than by what is before her; comments on the attentiveness and reserve of Labille's pupils; concludes that, while the picture does not possess all the merits the author was anticipating, its composition is quite wonderful.Lettre à Émilie, sur quelques tableaux du Sallon . 1785, p. 6 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 50, no. 1351].Mercure de France (October 1, 1785) [transcribed in Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 348, pp. 738, 757–58; see Ref. Passez 1973 for date], believes this painting places Labille-Guiard among the best portraitists of the Salon; comments on the extraordinary strides she has made in the past two years, noting that this work does not resemble any previously shown by the artist, and is superior to all the other pictures shown by her this year.Minos au sallon ou la gazette infernale par M. L. B. D. B. Gattières, 1785, p. 22 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 345], praises this picture.Observations critiques sur les tableaux du sallon, de l'année 1785 . Paris, 1785, p. 19 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 326], admires the picture and notes that it is composed like a history painting.Observations de M. le marquis de S . . . capitaine de cavalerie, sur quelques tableaux exposés cette année au Salon . 1785 [transcribed in Collection Deloynes, vol. 50, no. 1345, pp. 293–94], considers it inferior to Vestier's portrait of his daughter at an easel (no. 188 in the Salon), but not without merit; finds that the heads of the standing figures are not set off sufficiently from the background, while the body of the painter stands out too much.Figaro au sallon de peinture, pièce épisodi-critique en prose et en vaudevilles . Rome, 1785, p. 20 [Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 330; written by J. B. Pujoulx according to Montaiglon].Vers à Madame Guyard sur le sallon de 1785 . 1785 [transcribed in Collection Deloynes, vol. 14, no. 362, p. 899], praises this picture in verse.Nouvelles des arts 2 (1803), p. 5 [see Ref. Brejon de Lavergnée 1976].Histoire de l'art pendant la Révolution . Paris, 1863, p. 360, states that during the years IV (1795–96), VI (1797–98), and VIII (1799–1800) of the Revolution, Labille-Guiard exhibited numerous portraits, including the present work.Notice des dessins, cartons, pastels, miniatures et émaux exposés . . . au Musée Impérial du Louvre . Paris, 1869, p. 326.L'art pendant la Révolution . Paris, 1887, p. 58, mentions it among portraits by the artist exhibited in years IV, V and VI of the Revolution (1795–99).L'art 45 (1888), p. 130.Gazette des beaux-arts , 3rd ser., 11 (1894), p. 246.Gazette des beaux-arts 27 (1902), pp. 100–103, 107, ill. (engraving by Dujardin), calls this Labille-Guiard's most important painting and says all traces of it had been lost since the exhibition at Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in 1848; provides dates and some background information about the the two pupils depicted here, Gabrielle Capet and Mademoiselle Carreaux de Rosemond; discusses the picture's provenance.Women in the Fine Arts: From the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D. Boston, 1904, p. 202, mentions our picture and erroneously states that the artist is surrounded by the Duchesse d'Angoulême and "other noble ladies".La miniature française, 1750–1825 . 2, Paris, 1907, p. 62.Madame Vigée-Le Brun, peintre de la reine Marie-Antoinette, 1755–1842 . Paris, 1908, p. 54, quotes the "Journal général de France," in which our painting is mentioned in a discussion of the relative merits of Labille-Guiard's and Vigée-Le Brun's art.Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1909), pp. 130–31, no. 70.L'art et les artistes 9 (April–September 1909), p. 73.Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 25 (June 1909), pp. 411–12, ill., admires the vigor of the drawing and the handling of the fabrics and accessories, but finds the figures a bit heavy and boring.Burlington Magazine 15 (July 1909), p. 212.Les arts 8, no. 91 (July 1909), ill. p. 17.Maîtres du XVIIIe siècle: Cents portraits de femmes des écoles anglaise et française . Paris, 1910, p. 70, ill., note that it appears in Martini's engraving of the 1785 Salon; provide information regarding the provenance.L'art français aux États-Unis . Paris, 1926, p. 142, as the artist's "masterpiece".Der Cicerone 19 (1927), p. 8.Les femmes peintres du XVIIIe siècle . Paris, 1928, p. 63, pl. 41.in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler . 22, Leipzig, 1928, p. 168, as in the Berwind collection, New York; says the exhibition of this painting at the Salon of 1785 was the artist's greatest triumph.Old World Masters in New World Collections . New York, 1929, pp. 324–26, ill.The Fine Arts 18 (January 1932), pp. 24, 54, ill.Gazette des beaux-arts , 6th ser., 7 (1932), fig. 8.in Commemorative Catalogue of French Art, 1200–1900: Royal Academy of Arts, London . Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1933, pp. 49–50, no. 182.Gabrielle Capet . Paris, 1934, pp. 5, 15, 88, no. 4, ill. (frontispiece), identifies the bust in the background as Pajou's portrait of the artist's father, Labille, and the nearby statue as a vestal virgin.Le pastel en France au XVIIIème siècle . Paris, 1946, p. 105, quotes from a letter in the "Correspondance générale de la Maison du Roi" of November 8, 1785 in which the writer observes that in spite of the success of this painting, the artist has little money and few commissions.La peinture française: Le dix-huitième siècle . Paris, 1948, pp. 116, 129, pl. 118.Le jardin des arts no. 31 (May 1957), ill. p. 439.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 20 (October 1961), ill. p. 44.La chronique des arts (supplement of the Gazette des beaux-arts) no. 1118 (March 1962), fig. 4.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 20 (May 1962), pp. 265, 268–70, ill. (frontispiece).Diary of an Art Dealer . English ed. New York, 1966, p. 33, mentions it under June 10, 1918 as sold to E. J. Berwind for $18,000 [this information is incorrect; see correspondence of 4/5/2005 in archive file].Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 26 (November 1967), ill. p. 124.Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1749–1803: Biographie et catalogue raisonné de son oeuvre . Paris, 1973, pp. 19, 26–27, 48–49, 154–59, 308, 313–14, no. 62, pl. 49, cites critical reaction to this picture when it was exhibited in 1785; quotes two poems inspired by it, one of which was placed at the foot of the painting in the Salon; remarks that the artist generally employed fine, small brushes of the kind represented here; reproduces a painted study for the figure of the artist (no. 61, pl. 48, present location unknown), mentions an engraving after the picture by H. Valentin, and reproduces an engraving by Bornet after Martini, in which one can see the original placement of the work in the 1785 Salon (fig. 2); publishes correspondence from 1878 between the Louvre and the Griois family, in which the Louvre refused bequest of this picture for two reasons: it was not of sufficent artistic merit, and the son of the donor was reluctant to part with it.Burlington Magazine 117 (March 1975), p. 181.A History of Women Artists . New York, 1975, pp. 40–41, ill. (overall and detail on title page).in French Painting, 1774–1830: The Age of Revolution . Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1975, pp. 517–18, 558, no. 112, ill. p. 75 [French ed., "De David à Delacroix: La peinture française de 1774 à 1830, Paris, 1975, pp. 512–13, no. 112, pl. 31], calls this painting "the most ambitious and most nearly perfect painting of a very talented and sophisticated artist"; notes that in a 1787 Salon livret [La Plume du Coq de Micille . . .not legible in the Collection Deloynes microfiche] the painter Jean-Laurent Mosnier is advised, in reference to his "Portrait of the Artist in his Studio" (no. 135, Hermitage, Leningrad), "not to make too just a counterpart to Mme Guiard's painting" [our picture; also see Ref. Auricchio 2007].in The Eye of Th. Jefferson . Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1976, pp. 154–59, 313–14, 371, no. 241, ill., notes that Mlle Marie-Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) was a favorite of the artist and shared a house with her, staying on after Mme Labille's death as a housekeeper to the artist's husband.in Women Artists: 1550–1950 . Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York, 1976, pp. 185–86, 195, claims that the inclusion of the artist's pupils in this picture was a way of symbolically circumventing the small quota of women—four—allowed as members of the Academy and believes this point was not lost on Salon spectators.Women Artists: Recognition and Reappraisal from the Early Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century . New York, 1976, pp. 58–59, ill.Women Artists: An Historical, Contemporary and Feminist Bibliography . Metuchen, N.J., 1978, ill. p. 122.Women & Art: A History of Women Painters and Sculptors from the Renaissance to the 20th Century . Montclair, N.J., 1978, p. 48, fig. 3-4, quotes contemporary critics's comments on the work.The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work . New York, 1979, pp. 267–69, ill., comments on the "odd accoutrements" in this painting: the artist's sumptuous gown and the loose bow at her bosom so close to her palette, brushes, and mahlstick.Art Bulletin 62 (September 1980), p. 495.Woman's Art Journal 2 (Spring/Summer 1981), pp. 35–36.Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology . New York, 1981, p. 33, fig. 21, note that this picture "establishes that women artists had followings and exercised influence".The Rococo Age: French Masterpieces of the Eighteenth Century . Exh. cat., High Museum of Art. Atlanta, 1983, p. 93.Woman's Art Journal 6, no. 2 (1985–86), p. 55, rejects Passez's identification of no. 61 in her catalogue raisonné as an autograph study for the self-portrait in this painting and considers it instead an anonymous copy.Tableau 8 (February 1986), ill. p. 52.Women in Art . London, 1986, pp. 40–41, ill. (color).The Winds of Revolution . Exh. cat., Wildenstein. New York, 1989, p. 40.Les salons de peinture de la Révolution française, 1789–1799 . Paris, 1989, ill. p. 18.Les femmes et la Révolution française . 2, Toulouse, 1990, pp. 338, 340, ill. p. 339 (perspectival sketch) and unnumbered pl.Women Artists in History: From Antiquity to the 20th Century . Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1990, pp. 88–89, ill., regards this picture as "a public introduction of the aspiring painters" [Capet and Carreaux de Rosemond]; notes that Labille-Guiard faced financial difficulties in the year in which this work was executed, and her aristocratic dress and coiffure is thus "an appeal to potential aristocratic patrons" and not a document of the "artist's actual social status".Künstlerinnen: Leben · Werk · Rezeption . Hamburg, 1991, pp. 75, 77, colorpl. 23, comments on the artist's extravagent clothing and acessories here, observing that the artist is placing herself within a courtly tradition of portraiture.Southeast College Art Conference Review 12, no. 2 (1992), p. 85, fig. 4, compares this painting with Mayer's self-portrait with her father, exhibited at the Salon of 1801.Fragonard et le dessin français au XVIIIe siècle dans les collections du Petit Palais . Exh. cat., Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris. Paris, 1992, p. 99, ill., mentions it in his discussion of a portrait drawing by Vincent of Marie-Gabrielle Capet.Revue de l'art no. 109 (1995), pp. 42–43, fig. 2.New York Times (January 5, 1996), p. C5, ill., Nancy Spero observes that "normally I wouldn't react to a work of this period, considering my esthetic, but I saw a woman painting, looking beautifully, perfectly dressed, not a spot of paint on her, with these two women assistants, and I was immediately drawn to the picture. We are all looking for a heritage. It may be narrow to think this way, but artists do have a gender, they come from a milieu and it helps to recognize that".in The Dictionary of Art . 18, New York, 1996, p. 576, ill.The Exceptional Woman: Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and the Cultural Politics of Art . Chicago, 1996, p. 187, fig. 26.in Dictionary of Women Artists . London, 1997, vol. 2, p. 815, suggests this work was inspired by Vigée-Lebrun's "Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat" (private collection, Switzerland).in Augustin Pajou: Royal Sculptor, 1730–1809 . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1997, p. 259, fig. 165 (detail), discusses it in his entry for Pajou's 1784 bust of Labille-Guiard's father, Claude-Edme Labille.Seeing Ourselves: Women's Self-Portraits . New York, 1998, p. 82, ill. and frontispiece (color detail), notes that the artist presents herself in a multifaceted manner, as a serious artist, star, and teacher; comments that the "bust of Labille-Guiard's father in the background is the only male presence in this painting filled with female pride and energy"; mentions that Jean-Laurent Mosnier's "Portrait of the Artist in His Studio," exhibited at the Salon of 1787, follows the same format as Labille's 1783 "Self-portrait with Two Pupils".Women and Visual Culture in Nineteenth–Century France . London, 1998, pp. 52, 142–43, discusses the text "Avis important d'une femme sur le sallon de 1785" [see Ref. Avis important 1785], and appears to believe that its author is, in fact, a woman.in "Women Artists and the French Academy: Vigée-Lebrun in the 1780s." Gender and Art . New Haven, 1999, p. 117, pl. 84, notes that Labille-Guiard depicts herself in "an elaborate satin gown, which she would surely not actually have worn while working".in Zwischen Ideal und Wirklichkeit: Künstlerinnen der Goethe-Zeit zwischen 1750 und 1850 . Exh. cat., Schlossmuseum, Gotha. Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 1999, pp. 17, 27, fig. 5.Niederdeutsche Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte 38 (1999), p. 214, fig. 4, believes the composition of Marie-Gabrielle Capet's "Atelier Scene" of 1808 (Neue Pinakothek, Munich)—in which Labille-Guiard is depicted in her studio painting a portrait of Vien while Capet loads her palette—is indebted to our picture.in Perrin Stein and Mary Tavener Holmes. Eighteenth-Century French Drawings in New York Collections . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1999, pp. 188–90 n. 3, ill., discusses it in relation to the artist's chalk study for the heads of the two young women (no. 82, MMA 1998.186), made "to explore the nuances of light and cast shadow resulting from the sitters' unusual proximity to one another".A World of Our Own: Women as Artists Since the Renaissance . New York, 2000, pp. 88–89, ill., cites this picture as evidence of the large number of women painters who took female pupils in the second half of the eighteenth century.Self-Portraits by Women Painters . Aldershot, England, 2000, pp. 123–24, 208–9, colorpl. XXII.Drawing an Elusive Line: The Art of Pierre-Paul Prud'hon . Newark, Del., 2001, p. 173.Madame Vigée Le Brun . Paris, 2001, p. 76, fig. 5.Woman's Art Journal 23 (Spring–Summer 2002), p. 43.in Anne Vallayer-Coster: Painter to the Court of Marie-Antoinette . Exh. cat., Dallas Museum of Art. New Haven, 2002, p. 76, fig. 2.Marie-Guilhelmine Benoist: Gestaltungsräume einer Künstlerin um 1800 . Berlin, 2002, pp. 94–95, 98, fig. 31.Apollo 156 (September 2002), pp. 3, 10 n. 5, discusses Mosnier's "Self-portrait with the Artist's Wife and another Lady" of 1786 as "clearly an ambitious answer to this portrait".Eighteenth-Century Studies [Forum: Emulation in France, 1750–1800] 36 (Winter 2003), p. 235–39, ill., notes that "this image constructs the female 'atelier' as an alternative model of artistic education driven by a new understanding of emulation [as defined in Thomas Crow's, "Emulation: David, Drouais, and Girodet in the Art of Revolutionary France," New Haven, 2006] . . . that removes all hint of competition".Women, Art and the Politics of Identity in Eighteenth-Century Europe . Aldershot, England, 2003, pp. 150–53, ill., asserts that Labille-Guiard's "ability to make a powerful portrait that vied with history painting in its import and scale must have factored into Madame Adélaïde's enthusiasm for her work" [see Ref. Année literraire 1785].The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier . Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, [2005], pp. 60, 74, no. 65, ill.Woman's Art Journal 26 (Fall 2005–Winter 2006), pp. 6–7, ill. on cover (color).Portraits de femmes artistes et modèles à l'époque de Marie-Antoinette . Paris, 2006, pp. 78, 80–81 n. 135, ill. p. 82 (color), identifies the pupils as probably "Melles Capet and Avril".Art Bulletin 89 (March 2007), pp. 45–62, ill. (color), notes that Labille-Guiard's "revealing neckline, satin gown, and trimmings of feather and lace borrow directly from the latest fashion plates" and adds that while she echoes old master traditions of self-portraiture, she "taints these conventions with tinges of alluring sexuality and brash commerce"; mentions Jean-Laurent Mosnier's 1787 self-portrait in his studio (fig. 3, Hermitage, St. Petersburg), noting its dependence on the present picture; comments on the variety of materials and surfaces represented here, describing the painting as "a cornucopia of visual treats whose overabundance calls attention to the very notion of dsiplay"; finds the "display of Labille-Guiard's physical attractions . . . all the more striking when seen against the more demurely rendered figures of the two students" and sees a source for her pose and costume in engravings published in the fashion plate, "Galerie des Modes et des Costumes" of 1784 which bore flirtatious texts; calls Labille-Guiard's 1787 portrait of Adélaïde de France (châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles) a portrait 'à pied' clearly based on our picture.French Painting in the Eighteenth Century . Washington, 2007, p. 258, discusses the developing overlap in portrait painting, historiated portraits, and genre.in Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past . Exh. cat., High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Denver, 2007, p. 187.Old Master Drawings and Oil Sketches . Exh. cat., W. M. Brady & Co. New York, 2008, unpaginated, under no. 27, fig. 47.Les peintres en miniature actifs en France, 1650–1850 . Paris, 2008, p. 317, ill.Metropolitan Museum Journal 43 (2008), pp. 159–61, 167–68, 170 nn. 5–8, fig. 4 (color), mentions Jacques-Louis David's 1787 "Death of Socrates" (MMA 31.45) in relation to this work, noting that both emphasize "the importance of serving as an inspiration and guide to the young—of one's gender".Adélaïde Labille-Guiard: Artist in the Age of Revolution . Los Angeles, 2009, pp. 40, 42–47, 49, 53–55, 76, 105–6, 114 nn. 102–3, 106, 108, 110, 115, p. 122, fig. 30 (color), suggests that in this painting Labille-Guiard took inspiration from Antoine Coypel's 1698 "Portrait of the Artist with His Son, Charles Antoine" (fig. 31, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie, Besançon) which was engraved and distributed in the early eighteenth century.Harvard Magazine (September–October 2009), p. 36, ill. p. 37 (color).
Add to My Met Gallery
Print
List View
Enlarge
Zoom
