The Eighteenth Century Woman, 1982

The painter Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun once wrote of the eighteenth century, “Women reigned then; the Revolution dethroned them.” Witty, elegant, and a paragon of “feminine charm,” the eighteenth-century woman was the secret engine of high society. In this rollicking, over-the-top documentary narrated by actress Marisa Berenson you’ll hear from the likes of Diana Vreeland and former Met Director Philippe de Montebello as they discuss how women of power and privilege ruled the Age of Enlightenment. From hosting salons that convened the most brilliant minds of the times to overseeing foreign policy, these women represented the era’s loftiest ideals and its most decadent vices.

As part of The Met’s 150th anniversary in 2020, each month we will release three to four films from the Museum’s extensive moving-image archive, which comprises over 1,500 films, both made and collected by the Museum, from the 1920s onward. This includes rarely seen artist profiles and documentaries, as well as process films about art-making techniques and behind-the-scenes footage of the Museum.

Read the 1982 exhibition catalogue for free: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_Eighteenth_Century_Woman

New films every week: https://www.metmuseum.org/150/from-the-vaults

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