Reflection paper
Assignment:
Do some background research on the artist and what was happening in the artist's country when the painting was produced. And then, write a one page (250 words max) reflection on how the painting has cultural implications or connections today in that country.
Portrait of a Young Woman
(Countess Worontzoff ?)
about 1797 Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun (French, 1755–1842)
DIMENSIONS
82.2 x 70.5 cm (32 3/8 x 27 3/4 in.)
ACCESSION NUMBER
17.3256
MEDIUM OR TECHNIQUE
Oil on canvas
ON VIEW
Ann and William Elfers Gallery (Gallery 245)
COLLECTIONS
CLASSIFICATIONS
VigéeLe Brun was primarily selftaught, as women were not allowed to attend France’s official art schools. She went on to achieve great fame for her portraits of the French aristocracy and gained admission to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture through the support of her chief patron, Queen Marie Antoinette. When the French Revolution began in 1789, VigéeLe Brun fled France and spent thirteen years in exile, painting the nobility of Naples, Austria, Poland, Russia, and Switzerland. Some scholars think that the charming young woman in this portrait may be Countess Irina Ivanovna Worontzov, a Russian aristocrat.
Provenance
1913, Eugène Kraemer collection; May 5-6, 1913, 2nd posthumous Kraemer sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, lot 50, sold for fr. 4,300 to Edward M. Hodgkins, London. 1917, Maria Antoinette Evans Hunt (Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans) (b. 1845 - d. 1917), Boston; 1917, bequest of Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 1, 1917)
Credit Line
Robert Dawson Evans Collection