The Artist’s Brother
- Artist
- Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, French, 1755–1842
- Depicted
- Étienne Louis Jean-Baptiste Vigée, French, 1758–1820
- Date
- 1773
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 202
- Dimensions
- 24 1/4 x 19 7/8 in. (61.6 x 50.5 cm)
framed: 34 x 29 1/4 x 4 3/8 in. (86.4 x 74.3 x 11.1 cm) - Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Contact Us
- Object Number
- 3:1940
NOTES
By posing the boy looking over his shoulder and by angling his hat over his forehead, Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun achives a lovely image of youthful bravado. The portrait -very likely the artist's brother Etienne at the age of fifteen-is probably the one the artist described in her memoirs as "my brother in schoolboy's dress." She alludes to his interest in letters (he later became a celebrated writer) by including a sheaf of papers and a pen. The artist created this portrait when she was only eighteen.
Provenance
Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842), Paris, France
Private Collection, Chateau d'Aignes-Vives, Cher-et-Loire, France, given by the artist [1]
by 1939 - 1940
Wildenstein & Co., Paris, France; New York, NY, USA
1940 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Wildenstein & Co. [2]
Notes:
[1] A letter from the Museum to Wildenstein & Co. dated October 16, 1939, requests that the painting be sent to the Museum so it may be considered for acquisition [SLAM document files]. According to the invoice from Wildenstein & Co. dated January 6, 1940, the painting was given by Vigée Le Brun to the owners of Chateau d'Aignes-Vives in the Cher-et-Loire region of France [SLAM document files].
[2] Per invoice (see note [1]). Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 4, 1940.
Private Collection, Chateau d'Aignes-Vives, Cher-et-Loire, France, given by the artist [1]
by 1939 - 1940
Wildenstein & Co., Paris, France; New York, NY, USA
1940 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Wildenstein & Co. [2]
Notes:
[1] A letter from the Museum to Wildenstein & Co. dated October 16, 1939, requests that the painting be sent to the Museum so it may be considered for acquisition [SLAM document files]. According to the invoice from Wildenstein & Co. dated January 6, 1940, the painting was given by Vigée Le Brun to the owners of Chateau d'Aignes-Vives in the Cher-et-Loire region of France [SLAM document files].
[2] Per invoice (see note [1]). Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 4, 1940.