Count Emmanuel Nikolayevich Tolstoy

1823
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Twenty-seven years before painting Emmanuel Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1802–1825) in Paris, Vigée Le Brun had portrayed his mother, Countess Tolstaya, in St. Petersburg. Here, the pyramidal composition is carefully balanced and the color scheme is one on the artist’s favorites. The sitter emerges convincingly from the picture’s space as if to enter ours.

The Salon of 1824 signaled the advent of the Romantic era and the approaching end of Vigée Le Brun’s career.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Count Emmanuel Nikolayevich Tolstoy
  • Artist: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)
  • Date: 1823
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 36 3/8 × 28 1/2 in. (92.5 × 72.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Private collection
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings