French

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Original Title Marie-Antoinette de Lorraine-Habsbourg, reine de France, et ses enfants 1787 Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

Style French painting, 18th century, Full-length portrait Oil on canvas

Provenance Commissioned in September 1785 by the Director General of the King’s Buildings; exhibited at the Salon of 1787; exhibited in the Palace of Versailles in the Mars Room until June 1789; put into storage in the same month; left in the national collections during the Revolution; assigned to the museum of Versailles in the reign of Louis-Philippe.

Viewing Notes In August 1787, when it was due to be exhibited publically in the Painting Salon (an annual exhibition of paintings in the Louvre on 25 August, feast day of Saint Louis), the reputation of Marie-Antoinette was so bad that the portraitist did not dare send it. She feared that the public would attack the Queen's image. The empty space inspired the famous quip "Here's the Deficit!" It was only when the administration insisted that the painting was delivered. The critics were divided: some praised "the softness of the flesh tones" and the quality of the draperies, while others thought the composition was not very successful because the portraitist was not at ease in such a large format.

Additional Viewing Notes Confronted with the scandal provoked by the “Necklace” affair which was made public in July 1785, Queen Marie-Antoinette commissioned from her official portraitist, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, a large painting depicting her surrounded by her children. Marie-Antoinette’s intention was to present an official image of herself as both queen and mother. She deliberately did not wear much jewellery, wishing it to be known that her children were her only true treasure. This choice also expressed the new interest shown in childhood in this period.

However, when the portraitist began her composition in 1786, there were four royal children. Sophie-Béatrice, the youngest, was born in the same year. Unfortunately, the little princess died the following year, in 1787, at the age of eleven months. Despite her rank, the Queen still had to bear the tragedy of losing a child at an early age, which was common at this time.

Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun left the cradle empty in her picture in order to show the tragedy that had struck the royal family and thus win the sympathy of visitors to the Salon and of public opinion. This painting is presented in the Antechamber of the Grand Couvert. This room of the Queen’s Grand Appartement, originally used for the royal supper, has been totally restored and refurnished.

Marie-Antoinette de Lorraine-Habsbourg, queen of France, and her children, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun, 1787, From the collection of: Palace of Versailles

Marie-Antoinette de Lorraine-Habsbourg, reine de France, et ses enfants 1787 Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun Style French painting, 18th century, Full-length portrait Oil on canvas Provenance Commissioned in September 1785 by the Director General of the King’s Buildings; exhibited at the Salon of 1787; exhibited in the Palace of Versailles in the Mars Room until June 1789; put into storage in the same month; left in the national collections during the Revolution; assigned to the museum of Versailles in the reign of Louis-Philippe. Viewing Notes In August 1787, when it was due to be exhibited publically in the Painting Salon (an annual exhibition of paintings in the Louvre on 25 August, feast day of Saint Louis), the reputation of Marie-Antoinette was so bad that the portraitist did not dare send it. She feared that the public would attack the Queen's image. The empty space inspired the famous quip "Here's the Deficit!" It was only when the administration insisted that the painting was delivered. The critics were divided: some praised "the softness of the flesh tones" and the quality of the draperies, while others thought the composition was not very successful because the portraitist was not at ease in such a large format. Additional Viewing Notes Confronted with the scandal provoked by the “Necklace” affair which was made public in July 1785, Queen Marie-Antoinette commissioned from her official portraitist, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, a large painting depicting her surrounded by her children. Marie-Antoinette’s intention was to present an official image of herself as both queen and mother. She deliberately did not wear much jewellery, wishing it to be known that her children were her only true treasure. This choice also expressed the new interest shown in childhood in this period. However, when the portraitist began her composition in 1786, there were four royal children. Sophie-Béatrice, the youngest, was born in the same year. Unfortunately, the little princess died the following year, in 1787, at the age of eleven months. Despite her rank, the Queen still had to bear the tragedy of losing a child at an early age, which was common at this time. Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun left the cradle empty in her picture in order to show the tragedy that had struck the royal family and thus win the sympathy of visitors to the Salon and of public opinion. This painting is presented in the Antechamber of the Grand Couvert. This room of the Queen’s Grand Appartement, originally used for the royal supper, has been totally restored and refurnished.

Young Greeks Attending a Cock Fight, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1846, From the collection of: Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Jeunes Grecs faisant battre des coqs, dit aussi Un combat de coqs. 1846 Jean-Léon Gérôme Provenance Bought in 1873 Alternate Title The **** Fight Credit Line © Musée d'Orsay, dist. RMN / Patrice Schmidt Description Gérôme started work on this canvas in 1846 when he was still smarting from his failure to win the Prix de Rome which would have opened the doors of the Villa Medicis to him. He feared a new rebuff and hesitated to exhibit his Young Greeks Attending a **** Fight. But, encouraged by his master, the academic painter Delaroche, he finally entered his painting in the Salon of 1847, where it was a great success. In the "Neo-Grec" style, characterised by a taste for meticulous finish, pale colours and smooth brushwork, Gérôme portrays a couple of near-***** adolescents at the foot of a fountain. Their youthfulness contrasts with the battered profile of the Sphinx in the background. The same opposition is found between the luxuriant vegetation and the dead branches on the ground, and in the fight between the two roosters, one of which is doomed to die. In the chorus of praise for the work, few commentators noticed the artist's disillusioned attitude. Hardly anyone but Baudelaire criticised the canvas, calling Gérôme the leader of the "meticulous school", and finding him weak and artificial. The public preferred the opinion of Théophile Gautier who saw in The **** Fight "wonders of drawing, action and colour". At the age of twenty-three, Gérôme therefore made a brilliant entry into the art world and thereafter pursued the official career he had planned for himself, punctuated with honours and rewards.

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This user gallery has been created by an independent third party and may not represent the views of the institutions whose collections include the featured works or of Google Arts & Culture.

Palace of Versailles

Musée d’Orsay, Paris