Life Study of Lady Hamilton as the Cumaean Sybil
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Emma Hamilton (1765–1815) rose from the lowest rank of society to the peak of distinction by marrying, in 1791, Sir William Hamilton, English ambassador to Naples. There she was famous for her “attitudes”—tableaux vivants performed before swooning audiences who felt themselves transported back to antiquity. This study from life preceded a larger composition that Vigée Le Brun carried with her throughout Europe and Russia to promote her work.
Artwork Details
- Title: Life Study of Lady Hamilton as the Cumaean Sybil
- Artist: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)
- Date: 1792
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 28 3/4 × 22 1/2 in. (73 × 57.2 cm)
Frame: 37 × 30 1/2 × 3 3/4 in. (94 × 77.5 × 9.5 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Private collection
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings