Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun1774
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
This signed portrait reinterprets a well-known pastel by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour of the important French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the younger (1704–1778). The sculptor, seen toward the end of his life, appears in working garb. His close-cropped grey hair, frank, observant stare, and bemused smile all demonstrate the closeness of the young painter to the elder sculptor. The work also speaks to Vigée-LeBrun’s interest in naturalistic portraiture (as opposed to her more formal, commissioned portraits), and—in the handling of the paint as well as her source image—her debt to pastel painting, her original medium.
- Title: Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger
- Creator: Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun (French, 1755–1842)
- Date Created: 1774
- Physical Dimensions: Framed: 58.6 x 51.9 x 5.7 cm (23 1/16 x 20 7/16 x 2 1/4 in.); Unframed: 37.4 x 44.1 cm (14 3/4 x 17 3/8 in.)
- Provenance: Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger (1704-1778), Paris, France, by inheritance to the Lemoyne Family, Lemoyne Family, by inheritance to Yves Le Moyne, Yves Le Moyne, sold through Hotel Drouot, Sale: Hotel Drouot, Paris, France, February 5, 1912, lot 76, Paul J. Vignos, Jr. (1919-2010), Cleveland, OH, upon his death, held in trust by the estate., Estate of Paul J. Vignos, Jr., by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2011.49
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Fun Fact: Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne was a sculptor--there's one of his works in the CMA's collection.
- Department: European Painting and Sculpture
- Culture: France, 18th century
- Credit Line: Bequest of Dr. Paul J. Vignos, Jr.
- Collection: P - French 18th Century
- Accession Number: 2011.49
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