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| Madame Grand (Noël Catherine Vorlée, 1761–1835) |
Artist:Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)
Date:1783
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:Oval, 36 1/4 x 28 1/2 in. (92.1 x 72.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Edward S. Harkness, 1940
Vigée Le Brun was the most important woman artist of her time. She was a favorite of Marie Antoinette, through whose good offices she was admitted in 1783 to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture as one of only four women members. To the Salon of that year, her public debut, she sent three history paintings and at least ten portraits, of which this was one. Madame Grand was a minor celebrity, a beautiful blond born in India, ill-educated but musical and clever; she would eventually become the wife of the minister and diplomat Talleyrand.
Provenance
Jacques Doucet, Paris (by 1899–1912; his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 6, 1912, no. 190, for Fr 440,000 to Knoedler); [Knoedler, London, Paris and New York, 1912–14; sold for Fr 484,000 to Leeds]; Mrs. William Bateman Leeds, later Princess Christopher of Greece, Paris (1914–d. 1923); Prince Christopher of Greece (from 1923); Françoise of France, Princess Christopher of Greece (until 1934; sold for Fr 300,000 to Knoedler); [Knoedler, Paris and New York, 1934–35; sold for $85,000 to Harkness]; Edward S. Harkness, New York (1935–d. 1940; life interest to his widow, Mary Stillman Harkness, 1940–d. 1950)
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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