The Comtesse de Gramont Caderousse Gathering Grapes
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.The countess (1761–1832), presented at court in 1779, was soon invited to join Marie Antoinette’s circle of friends. Here, she is dressed as a vendangeuse, or grape harvester, in keeping with the queen’s taste for rusticity in fashion.
Thin, softly brushed transparent glazes are applied over warm base flesh tones. The painting’s wood support, primed with ocher, contributes to the brilliance of the artist’s technique.
Thin, softly brushed transparent glazes are applied over warm base flesh tones. The painting’s wood support, primed with ocher, contributes to the brilliance of the artist’s technique.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Comtesse de Gramont Caderousse Gathering Grapes
- Artist: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)
- Date: 1784
- Medium: Oil on wood
- Dimensions: 41 3/8 × 29 7/8 in. (105.1 × 75.9 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchase : William Rockhill Nelson Trust through exchange of the bequest of Helen F. Spencer and the generosity of Mrs. George C. Reuland through the W.J. Brace Charitable Trust, Mrs. Herbert O. Peet, Mary Barton Stripp Kemper and Rufus Crosby Kemper Jr., in memory of Mary Jane Barton Stripp and Enid Jackson Kemper, and Mrs. Rex L. Diveley (86-20)
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings