During Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun's lifetime, she painted many self-portraits of herself. One of her most famous pieces of artwork was her 1789 Self-Portrait with Her Daughter Julie (à l’Antique). In this painting, she is porched on a bench as her daughter Julie leans into her body, and the arms of the mother and daughter circle around each other. The thing that differentiates this work from other self-portraits, is her choice of attire. In this work, she appears to be wearing a one-shouldered dress that resembles the ancient Greek chiton, a garment not worn since antiquity.
One interesting fact about this painting is that it was painted using oil paints. This type of paint was predominantly used during the Northern Renaissance. In addition to oil paints, in the middle renaissance during the 15th century self-portraits were also influential during that era. What's so fascinating about this painting is that it shows elements of realistic elements and natural inspiration. Throughout the painting we can see from the colors that are more natural being used in the dress and in the painting, however during the renaissance people usually wore fancy dresses and boisterous clothes. These more simple yet natural looking colors give the self portrait that natural look to it as well as give off a realistic look.
When looking at both of the people drawn you can see the precision of perspective of both of them. One of them is not the same size as the other and both have realistic proportions. Also the brightness values, contrast and the temperature of the painting also are very noticeable since around the corners of the art piece are darker and the center of the painting has most of the light that gives the painting its focus and allows us to concentrate on the mother and daughter.
What I like most about this art piece is how humane it is. From the hugging pose, how less dramatic the clothing is as well as the color and delicate brush strokes that gives off that realistic hair. It all brings the painting together and gives it a sense of humanity and humanism.
Sources:
art-mus-thr200. “Influences on the Northern Renaissance.” Art 200x, 13 Jan. 2018, https://art200.community.uaf.edu/2018/01/13/02-influences-on-the-northern-renaissance/.
Lowell, Lauren M. “The Northern Renaissance.” Lauren m Lowell Costume Designer, https://lowelldesigns.com/the-northern-renaissance/#:~:text=BASIC%20GARMENTS%3A%20Chemise%2C%20ruff%2C,%2C%20gabled%20headdress%2Ffrench%20bonnet.
Mida, Dr. Ingrid E., and Dr. Ingrid E. Mida. “Vigée Le Brun, Self-Portrait with Her Daughter.” Smarthistory, https://smarthistory.org/vigee-le-brun-self-portrait-with-her-daughter/.
Webster. “Chiton Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chiton.
