Our Art History Course investigating the lives and works of lady artists up to the 1800s with Jennifer completed its survey on Friday 21 March 2025. This session was devoted to three french artists, Marie-Victoire Lemoine, Adelaide Labille-Guiard and Elisabeth Vigee le Brun.

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1749 – 1803), also known as Adélaïde Labille-Guiard des Vertus, was a French miniaturist and portrait painter. She was an advocate for women to receive the same opportunities as men to become great painters.

Marie-Victoire Lemoine (1754 – 1820) was a French classicist painter. She is possibly best known for the self portraits she painted which included many details from her studio. She also did many portraits showing her clients in classical settings.

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755 – 1842) also known as Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun or simply as Madame Le Brun, was a French painter who mostly specialised in portrait painting, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. We saw several paintings of Queen Marie-Antoinette

At the time these artists were active, still life compositions were very popular, and it was with these subjects that they perfected their skills and became popular and well known. We saw many examples of bowls of fruit, selections of vegetables. We then moved on to their portraits which was where the real money was to be earned.

Jennifer finished with a quiz asking us to identify the artist who had painted herself in a series of self portraits, and that was not easy! Our next meeting is on 04 April 2025, and will be composed of volunteers from the members introducing female artists that they have found appealing.