Marie Antoinette in a Blue Velvet Dress and a White Skirt

Marie Antoinette in a Blue Velvet Dress and a White Skirt

Marie Antoinette in a Blue Velvet Dress and a White Skirt
Artist:Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)
Date:1788
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:106 5/8 in. × 76 3/4 in. (271 × 195 cm)
Frame: 9 ft. 8 15/16 in. × 87 3/8 in. × 4 3/4 in. (297 × 222 × 12 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon (MV 2097)

After completing her famous 1787 portrait of Marie Antoinette and her children, Vigée Le Brun painted this work, doubtless without a sitting and probably on her own initiative. She believed that there would be requests for other images of the queen but in the end she did not sell this canvas for many years. The face and pose of Marie Antoinette in the two compositions are almost identical, but here she has aged and she communicates a degree of regal severity.

Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org