Old Mistresses: Royal Influencers
Tags: Painting, Feminism, History, Art, Society

Angelica Kauffman and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun both blended the two prevalent movements of the late 18th century, gaining favor in the eyes of royalty of the day.

Maya Garabedian /MutualArt

Angelica Kauffman, Princess Augusta Charlotte with Her Infant Son, ca. 1767, oil on glass. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum

To say that the Old Mistresses contributed to the royal arts and architectural structures would be an understatement — many of them directly influenced the very principles and institutions that have come to define the artistic and cultural elements surrounding royal life. Their knowledge of the art world was used to develop city services, their stylistic eye would be put to use in architectural pursuits, and their portraits would be used as political tools to influence rulers’ reputations. In particular, Angelica Kauffman and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, two women who made names for themselves in both Rococo and Neoclassical movements, were key to establishing the royal aesthetics we’ve come to know today.

Born in 1741, the first of the two, Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss artist, although the majority of her work was made in Italy and England. As she traveled with her father, painter Johann Joseph, she picked up creative skills of her own and began to really form her style in Rome. Kauffman found herself using pastels, the trending palette at the time for Italian and French Rococo painters. However, stylistically, she was heavily influenced by Neoclassicism. Her fusion of Rococo tones, brushwork, and air of opulence with Neoclassical poses, drapery, and unique storytelling made her work stand out. Some paintings leaned more towards the realm of Rococo, as emotional, pastoral, open-air scenes, some were more Neoclassical, portraying historical and mythological scenes, and others were a little bit of both, like commissioned portraits. Her work stood out in a class of its own, but her personality was also known to help her make meaningful connections.

Angelica Kauffman, Henrietta Laura Pulteney, ca. 1777, oil on canvas. Courtesy of The Holburne Museum

The wife of an English ambassador, Lady Wentworth, invited Kauffman to London in 1766. She was immediately well received by the royal family and became friends with other British painters, like Sir Joshua Reynolds, who founded the Royal Academy in 1768. Kauffman’s name is among the signatures of those petitioning for the establishment of the Royal Academy, and in its first catalog she was listed as a member — more specifically, she was listed as one of two female founding members. Now known as the Royal Academy of Art, being involved in the prestigious institution was a career-building moment for Kauffman. Her works were commissioned by and for a number of world leaders, royal families, and even Pope Pius VI.

Angelica Kauffman, Self-Portrait of the Artist Hesitating Between the Arts of Music and Painting, ca. 1794, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Art UK and National Trust, Nostell Priory

In 1791, Kauffman finished two important paintings: one was a family portrait for Princess Catherine Petrovna Baryatinskaya, née Princess Holstein-Beck, and the other was the famed Self-Portrait of the Artist Hesitating Between the Arts of Music and Painting, which was said to have been given to the Russian princess as well. Whether it was made specifically for her or was a gift alongside the family portrait is unclear, however, it was still quite a statement, as the painting was an undeniable symbol of women’s empowerment. The image is based on Kauffman, who had a natural-born talent as a musician and had grappled with whether or not to follow that path — the general opinion of female musicians and singers at the time was negative, as the profession was linked to promiscuity. After turning to her priest for advice, she decided life as a painter would be more fruitful and satisfying. Kauffman plays off the allegory Hercules at the Crossroads Between Virtue and Vice, a favorite storyline of the period, giving it a personal and feminist twist: the subject is a young woman making her own life decisions.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, 1782, oil on canvas. Courtesy of The National Gallery

Around this time, Angelica Kauffman and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun met in France, and while no monumental collaboration came from it, their paths crossing helps contextualize their similarities. Vigée Le Brun was born in Paris in 1755, just over a decade after Kauffman. However, her style too was a bit of a Rococo-Neoclassical blend. Bridging the gap between genres in a similar fashion, picking and choosing elements from each style to curate a desired outcome, made her highly popular among European royalty. With the whimsical, pastel-colored, natural elements of Rococo added to the documentary seriousness of Neoclassicism, Vigée Le Brun’s work could be intimate and relatable or luxurious and authoritative, depending on what the situation called for.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Marie Antoinette in a Chemise Dress, 1783, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

Vigée Le Brun has many well-known pieces, most of which are in relation to French royalty. After marrying Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun in 1776, who was a painter and art dealer with familial ties to the Académie Royale and Louis XIV, she was able to make connections of her own. As she gained a reputation for painting her subjects in a highly flattering way, she soon caught the attention of Marie Antoinette, who quickly became one of Vigée Le Brun’s main customers. While she painted over 30 portraits of the Queen and her family, some were more notable than others. Her painting Marie-Antoinette in a Chemise Dress showed the Queen in a beautiful but informal muslin chemise, shocking all of France. It was seen as so inelegant that it was promptly removed from the Salon and replaced by a similar painting, this time with the Queen in a classier silk gown.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Marie Antoinette With a Rose, 1783, oil on canvas. Courtesy of The New York Times and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

As Marie Antoinette and Vigée Le Brun got closer, they began to help each other’s careers. Previously, the Académie Royale had denied Vigée Le Brun’s application because her husband was an art dealer, which was against the rules. Marie Antoinette decided to ask her husband, Louis XVI, to overturn this rule, which led to Vigée Le Brun’s acceptance in 1783, giving her one of the four spots available to women. A few years later, after becoming the first woman to reach the rank of painter to the king, Vigée Le Brun was tasked with influencing the public’s perception of the Queen, showing her as a maternal figure who experienced similar struggles to lower-class women. In the painting, she is shown holding her children and sitting alongside an empty bassinette, alluding to her fourth child who was born prematurely and died shortly thereafter.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Marie Antoinette and Her Children, 1787, oil on canvas. Courtesy of The New York Times and Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon

The Old Mistresses who were the go-to painters of aristocracies, monarchies, and high-powered institutions around the world had a lot of responsibility and a lasting impact. Their roles would’ve been impressive for any artist of any time period, but for female artists in the 18th and 19th centuries, what Angelica Kauffman and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun accomplished is even more of a feat.