Julie Le Brun as Flora
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.The successive portraits of Vigée Le Brun’s daughter Julie (1780–1819) are milestones in the history of a passionate, conflicted mother-daughter relationship. In the present work, Julie is depicted as Flora, the goddess of flowers who gives birth to spring. She is exposed to the whims of Zephyr, the wind god who wed Flora and swept her away. As if fulfilling a prophecy, Julie soon married against her mother’s wishes and the two parted.
Artwork Details
- Title: Julie Le Brun as Flora
- Artist: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)
- Date: ca. 1799
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 51 × 38 1/2 in. (129.5 × 97.8 cm)
Frame: 62 1/2 × 50 1/2 in. (158.8 × 128.3 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, Rexford Stead Art Purchase Fund (1983.5)
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings