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[narrator] Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

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is France’s last great
portraitist.

The most famous in Europe.

A child prodigy,
taught by her father,

she starts painting
professionally at the age of 14.

Ambitious and independent,
she gains access

to the highest levels of power
by becoming portraitist

to Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Energetic and determined,

she’ll produce
over 660 portraits.

Because of her close ties
to the royal court,

she’s forced to flee into exile
during the French Revolution.

This period of exile,

which she imagined would last
only six months,

will last 13 years,

taking her to all
the royal courts of Europe.

She’ll live in Italy, Austria,
England and Russia.

A friend of the rich
and powerful

and the greatest artists
of her time,

she’ll be acclaimed in all
the royal courts

and art academies of Europe.

Her destiny is that
of a talented and free woman

who managed to combine
success and fortune.

She’ll declare in her memoirs,

“Before the revolution,
women ruled...

the revolution dethroned them.”

[Elisabeth]“My very dear friend.

You urge me so warmly
to write my memoirs for you...

that I have decided
to satisfy your desire.

Imagine what it will mean
to my heart...

to recall the various events
I have witnessed...

and the friends who exist
no more

save in my thought!

Nevertheless,

the task will be an easy one,

for my heart
loves to remember...

and in my hours of loneliness

those dear departed friends
surround me still,

so vivid do they appear
to my imagination.”

[narrator] Louise Elisabeth Vigée

was born in Paris in April 1755,

a few months before
Marie-Antoinette.

18th Century France saw
the growth of a practice

of major significance:
wet-nursing.

Middle class women,

the wives of artisans
and merchants

send their children
to neighboring villages

in order to be free
to carry out their activities.

Shortly after her birth,

little Elisabeth
will be entrusted to a wet nurse

in the Epernon region
of Normandy.

In 1761, her father Louis,
comes to take her home.

Elisabeth,
now aged 6,

discovers a father
she doesn’t know

and has to say goodbye
to her foster family.

She’ll spend a few weeks
in the family apartment

in Paris,
rue de Cléry,

where she’ll discover
the day-to-day life

of her parents,
her brother Etienne,

3 years younger than herself,

and especially,
her father’s work.

[Xavier] Her father was
a pastel portraitist,

a member of the Academy
of Saint Luke artists’ guild.

He was a man who sought out
the company of musicians,

poets and wits.

[narrator] Court life

and the growth of a wealthy
Parisian middle class

account for the increasing
popularity of the portrait.

Latour, Van Lo,
Greuze or Drouais

will be the fashionable masters
of this art.

[Katharine] Everyone wanted
their portrait painted,

there was no other way

to preserve your likeness...

in that age.

[narrator] Pastels artist,
Louis Vigée,

whilst not having the genius
of the great masters,

has acquired
a fairly large clientele.

Artists, nobles
and burghers all sit for him.

[Elisabeth] “I mention
these facts

to show what an inborn passion
for the art

I possessed.

My father,
whose name was Vigée,

made very good pastel drawings.

He did some portraits

which would have been worthy
of the famous Latour.

But, coming back

to the pleasures I enjoyed
in my childhood home,

I must tell you
that my father allowed me

to paint several heads
in pastels...

and also...

to dabble with his crayons
all day.”

[Joseph] Her father adored her,
and...

he would give her free reign

when he would let her
in his studio,

take his pastel boxes
and start drawing.

[Geneviève] Her father’s
very encouraging of her talent

and one day,
after seeing a drawing she did

of a bearded man, exclaims,

“You will be a painter, child,
if there ever was one!”

[narrator] After
a few short weeks

spent in the family home,

Elisabeth is sent
to boarding school

at the Trinity Convent
in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine.

At six years old, she’s one
of its youngest pupils.

While boys are educated
in schools

or through private tutors,

girls from the upper
and middle classes

are mainly educated in convents.

They are taught very little.

Biblical history,
the basics of sewing and writing

in order to prepare them
for their future roles

as companionable wives
and mothers.

At the age of 11,
she leaves the convent.

Her father undertakes
to train her

and sends her
to one of his friends,

a painter called Davesne,

who teaches her
how to set a palette.

These future artists
in painting, pastels or drawing,

are going to meet other masters
during their youth.

Madame Vigée-Lebrun will have
a lot of admiration

for artists such as
Jean-Baptiste Greuze

and Joseph Verne.

She’ll observe them,
question them,

and listen to their advice
on how to improve.

[narrator] Elisabeth continues
her apprenticeship

but is soon going to lose
her first teacher.

[Elisabeth] “I had just spent
one happy year

in my parents' house
when my father fell ill.

My mother wept day and night.

As for myself,

I will not attempt to describe
my desolation.

I was about to lose
the best of fathers,

my support, my guide,

the one whose indulgence
encouraged my first attempts!”

[narrator] In order
to distract her from her grief,

her mother, Jeanne,
takes her to see

the private collections
of masterpieces

exhibited to the public,

such as that
of the Duke of Orleans,

where Elisabeth gets to know
the great European painters

and develops her taste.

[Joseph] She had no real
formal training

she took courses here
and there, dabbled in...

but you can’t say
she’s self-taught actually.

[narrator] At the age of twelve,

in order to help her mother

and pay for her young
brother’s schooling,

Elisabeth is obliged to work.

[Geneviève] Her talent
soon becomes noticed,

in particular through
two portraits,

which reveal her precocious
artistic maturity.

[narrator] The portrait
of her brother, Etienne,

dressed as a schoolboy,

which she’s believed
to have painted

at the age of 14,

and that of her mother,
are so well-done

that they’re talked about
in Paris.

Commissions soon begin
to flow in.

A year after the death
of her husband,

Jeanne Maissin marries
a rich jeweler,

Jacques François Le Sèvre

to whom Elisabeth
and Etienne are openly hostile.

When the young girl starts
to receive payment

for her first
commissioned portraits,

Le Sèvre considers
that this money belongs to him

and he uses it for himself.

[narrator] Elisabeth
rapidly builds up

a large clientele of artists,
burghers and nobles.

Her fees increase

and she starts earning
a lot of money.

[soft music]

For the gentlemen models
who gaze at her too insistently,

she devises a clever trick to
turn their eyes away from her.

[Elisabeth] As for
those gentlemen,

as soon as I realized
they wished to make eyes at me

I would paint them
with their gaze averted,

which prevents the sitter
from looking at the painter.

At the least movement
of their pupils in my direction,

I would say:
"I am doing the eyes now."

This would vex them a little,
as you can imagine,

and my mother,
who was always present

and whom I had taken
into my confidence,

would laugh to herself.”

[Danièle] In fact
Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun

practically invents
this masculine theme,

that
of the pre-romantic character

gazing off into the distance,

eyes raised up to heaven,
his thoughts elsewhere.

In this way,
she diverts the man’s eyes

and possible amorous intentions
away from her.

So she shows intelligence
there too,

wiliness I’d say,

in the way she deals
with this situation.

[narrator] Despite
her numerous commissions,

Elisabeth finds time to enjoy
the favorite pastime

of 18th Century Parisians,

going out for a stroll.

Nobles and gentry, artisans,
merchants and scamps

pass each other by
in the Tuileries Gardens,

in the squares
of the Champs Elysées,

in the Luxembourg
and Palais Royal Gardens

where Elisabeth
and her family live.

When out strolling,
you have to ‘see’

and especially ‘be seen’.

Fashionable gathering places
are created

and last for a brief time,
such as the Coliseum.

Located in one
of the Champs-Elysées squares,

this amusement site,
illuminated by 2,000 candles,

could hold 40,000 people.

Its attractions included
cafés, circuses,

trinket and curiosity shops,
a show hall, a ball,

and a fireworks display.

During these strolls,

Elisabeth attracts
a lot of attention.

It’s at this time
that two women,

important
for her future destiny,

will cross her path.

[Geneviève] The Duchess
of Chartres

who you might say
is her neighbor

since she resides
in the Palais Royal gardens,

will ask her to come
and paint her portrait

as well as that of her friends.

[narrator] The Duchess
of Chartres,

future Duchess of Orleans,
is a patron of the arts.

It’s she who’ll introduce
the milliner and dress-maker,

Rose Bertin,
to Queen Marie-Antoinette.

The second meeting
that will prove decisive

for Elisabeth’s future success
will again take place

during one of her strolls
in a park.

[Elisabeth] “We went
to Marly-Le-Roi,

and there I realized
for the first time

how enchanting a place could be.

One morning I met the Queen
walking in the park

with several ladies
of her Court.

They were all in white dresses
and so young

that they looked
like an apparition.

I was with my mother,
and was turning away to leave,

when the Queen very kindly
stopped me

and invited me to continue
in any direction

I might prefer.”

[narrator] Marie-Antoinette
had arrived

in France in May 1770,
at the age of 15,

to marry Louis Auguste,
Dauphin of France

and grandson of Louis XV.

During a firework display
held to celebrate the marriage,

Place Louis XV,
future Place de la Concorde,

is the scene
of a dramatic incident.

133 people are smothered
and trampled to death

during a wave of panic
caused by a fire

set off by a falling rocket.

An ominous omen,

for it’s on this very same site
that, 20 years later,

the royal couple
will be executed.

Elisabeth and her family
escape the fire unharmed.

Elisabeth’s clientele
grows larger day by day.

But she works as a free agent,

outside any
official institution.

The Jurande,

a body governing
professional incorporations,

seizes her studio

and obliges her to register
her activity

within a professional framework.

[Juliette] In 18th Century
France,

it’s obligatory to belong
to an artists’ guild,

and in Paris,

this was the Academy
of Saint Luke.

So if you weren’t a member
of the Academy of Saint Luke.

You had to be a member
of the Royal Academy

of Painting and Sculpture.

[Geneviève] This is why
she applies to become a member

of the Academy of Saint Luke,

where she’ll be
enthusiastically accepted.

[narrator] In 1775,
Jacques François Le Sèvre

and his family move
to an apartment

in a big mansion house
in rue de Cléry,

almost directly opposite
the former apartment

of Louis Vigée.

Their apartment is
in a beautiful mansion house

called the Lubert Mansion

whose live-in owner
is Jean-Baptiste Pierre LeBrun.

[narrator] Jean-Baptiste
is an ambitious young man

who pursues a triple career

as painter, art restorer
and art dealer.

His apartments are filled
with works of the old masters,

which Elisabeth will study
and copy.

The best learning method
for aspiring female painters

who’d already mastered
the basics,

was to copy
the existing works of art.

It’s always been like that.

[narrator] Jean-Baptiste
is also the curator

of several large private
art collections

such as that of the Count
of Vaudreuil.

Joseph Hyacinthe de Vaudreuil

is a nobleman at
the court of Louis XVI.

Peer of France,
governor of the Louvre

and member
of the Academy of Fine Arts,

he’ll become one of the first

collectors of
Elisabeth’s portraits.

At the Lubert mansion,

the young art dealer
soon succumbs to the charms

of the talented
and beautiful young woman.

[Elisabeth] “I was then
twenty years old.

I was living without anxiety
as to my future,

since I was earning
a good deal of money

and thus felt no inclination
for matrimony.

But my mother,
who believed Monsieur Lebrun

to be very rich,
unceasingly urged me

not to refuse
such a profitable match

and I at last consented
to the marriage.”

[Geneviève] They both have
an artistic sensitivity.

They can discuss painting
and they’re both very ambitious.

So it’s this love of painting,
this ambition

and a mutual attraction
that will form

the bond of their couple,

which will last, finally,
for quite a number of years.

[narrator] Jean-Baptiste
does business

with the Dutch art dealers

and he takes the young woman
with him on one of his trips

to Flanders.

In Antwerp she discovers
the masterpieces of Rubens.

It’s during this trip that
the great master’s technique

inspires her to do
a self-portrait on oak panel.

[Gwenola] The use of oil
on wood gives the painting

a glossy, almost enamel effect,
which is different to the effect

produced by oil on canvas.

[Katherine] The panels
are remarkable

for the transparency
of the coloration,

which is surely
a rubensean effect,

because it’s very clear
that she was very, very much

influenced by Rubens.

[Gwenola] She visits
the Antwerp art dealer,

Jean Michel Van Havre,
and discovers a portrait

that’s commonly known
as ‘The Straw Hat’.

It’s actually a felt hat

which enables an effect
of projected shadow,

a play of light and shade,

particularly on the face
and forehead.

[peaceful music]

She went back to France
and painted her self-portrait,

which was
one of the greatest pictures

she ever painted.
And the first one on panel.

[Joseph] And she learned,
she acquired skill

and painted with blazers,
with colored blazers,

and she’s at the top
of her form there.

[narrator] The painting is
so successful that Elisabeth,

at the request of her clients,
reemploys the same accessories.

The silk shawl
edged in black lace

and the hat creating
a gentle chiaroscuro effect,

can be found in several
of her other portraits.

She’ll use them
to cover Madame Du Barry,

herself, Marie-Antoinette
and many others.

[Juliette] It’s amusing to see
that from one portrait

to another,
Vigée-Le Brun,

once she’s found
a formula that works,

will use this same costume,
these same accessories,

on different models.

[narrator] Although united
through their shared love

for painting and their ambition,

Elisabeth and Jean-Baptiste
live independent lives,

and she’ll describe her husband
as a dissipated gambler

who squanders all her money.

[Françoise] She speaks
very badly of her husband

in her ‘Memoirs’,
but I think her husband

was very useful to her in fact.

Not only by introducing her to
great works of art,

but also by
his unfailing support of her.

[narrator] Elisabeth
nonetheless follows

Jean-Baptiste’s advice
and sets up a painting atelier

for young ladies.

The young woman doesn’t have
much authority over her students

but transmits to them her love
of art and her technique.

Her ‘Young Ladies’ School’,
as Madame Lebrun calls it,

will prove to be quite
a success.

She had a group
of young women around her,

who worked at her side
and whom she taught.

And one of the exercises
she had them do

was ‘the expressive head’ study.

[narrator] Not able to have
live models in her atelier,

Elisabeth gives her students
her own drawings

to copy as an exercise.

[Xavier] These are drawings done
in black chalk

with white chalk highlights,

and we can see that she works
as though she’s using pastels,

that is,
she stumps her lines,

probably with her fingertips.

She smudges the black chalk
to model the face,

to create this shading
that brings out

the depth and volume.

And this is
a very difficult exercise

that each of her students
has to learn how to do.

[narrator] Shortly after
opening her school,

Elisabeth gives birth
to her first child,

a little girl
that she’ll name Julie,

soon nicknamed ‘Brunette’.

Added to the joy
of being a mother

is the satisfaction of becoming
a recognized artist

whose fees are amongst
the highest of her time.

Jean-Baptiste Pierre Lebrun

who knows the art market
very well,

and who’s an excellent
businessman,

knew what he was doing

when he set
extremely high prices

for his wife’s paintings.

[Katherine] An arty
was specializes in handling

their artist...

in order to achieve
the best result financially.

But I have the impression
that Vigée-Lebrun was able to

achieve the result financially
on her own.

[Geneviève] She’s personable
and talented enough

to be able to establish
her own connections.

Little by little,
she’s going to succeed

in making a name for herself
in the society of her time.

On the one hand
through her talent,

and on the other,
through her beauty.

She’s a very graceful woman,
very bright and cultivated.

[narrator] While heads may
turn to look at her in Paris,

it’s Elisabeth’s conversation

that particularly charms
her models during sittings.

Another thing about
painting portraits is

that you have to be
an intelligent person

and a good conversationalist.

People hated sitting
for portraits.

Members of the royal family
hated it the most

because they had to be painted
the most.

They wanted to be entertained
when they sat.

[narrator] Ambitious,
her desire is to reach

the highest ranks of power

and it’s undoubtedly through
the Duchess of Chartres

that she gains access
to Queen Marie-Antoinette.

In 1778 she obtains
official entrance

to the royal palace
of Versailles.

[Joseph] The empress
Maria-Theresa,

who was
Marie-Antoinette’s mother,

was never satisfied with
any portrait of her daughter.

She received some portraits
that weren’t so...

that offended her.

So she asked the queen
to find a painter.

[soft music]

[Gwenola] Marie-Antoinette is
always disappointed

with the portraits done of her.

There’s this famous letter
to her mother,

in November 1774,
in which she writes,

“The painters kill me
and make me despair.”

So it’s in this context
of expectancy

on the part of the queen,

that
Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

is going to be given her chance
at painting her

and it’s this first portrait
of the queen called

‘En robe à paniers’;
‘In a hoopskirt’.

[Xavier] When you look at
the queen’s face

in this portrait,

it’s still the ‘Habsbourg’ face,
that is,

the jutted out chin,
the thick bottom lip,

the slightly protruding eyes.

Then progressively,

she uses her talent to soften
these physical defects,

to create an image which,
ten years later,

is that of this woman
of great beauty,

but which no longer
exactly reflects reality.

The likenesses are perfect,

and yes, she operated like
a plastic surgeon.

[narrator] Elisabeth’s
true talent could be said to be

that of adapting herself to
the personality of her sitter.

She’s capable of bringing out
the grace

of the young noble ladies,

the piquant lightness

of the actress
Madame Molé Raymond,

or the sensuality
of Madame Grant,

the future Princess
of Talleyrand.

There’s a lot of grace
in Vigée-Le Brun’s portraits,

and her texture is soft
and velvety, in fact.

There’s a lot
of sentiment there,

rather than sentimentality.

We feel she has empathy
for her model.

[narrator] Because she
listens and observes,

she knows how to bring out
the natural attributes

of her models.

[Elisabeth] “It is difficult,
however,

to convey to anyone
who has not seen the Queen

an adequate idea
of her noble traits

and many graceful qualities.

But the most remarkable thing
about her face

was the splendor
of her complexion.

I have never seen one
so brilliant,

and ‘brilliant’ is the word,

for her skin was so transparent
that it had no shading.

I was unable to reproduce
its effect to my satisfaction;

I had no colors to paint
such freshness,

such delicate tints,
which were hers alone,

and which I have never found
in any other woman.”

Marie-Antoinette has found
her portraitist.

While not actually
being close friends,

a steady relationship
of affectionate intimacy

established itself between
the two women.

[narrator] Marie-Antoinette
shares her passion for the opera

with the portraitist

and the sittings often end
with the two of them

performing in a duet

the fashionable tunes
of the time.

Elisabeth now wants
the ultimate recognition,

that of being accepted by
the Royal Academy of Painting.

But she’s refused admission
because its regulations

formally forbid any contact
with mercantile professions

and she’s the wife
of an art dealer.

A woman at that time shared
the profession of her husband.

So that was the reason
they excluded her.

So she went behind their backs
and went to the queen,

and persuaded the Queen
to get permission from the King

for her to be able to enter
the academy,

because that was
the royal way to succeed.

Then you could exhibit

in the official Salon
of the Academy.

[narrator] In reality,

the Academy accepts
very few women artists.

Only four of them will be
admitted in 1783:

Madame Lebrun,
Anne Vallayer-Coster,

Marie-Thérèse Reboul
and a formidable rival

in the art of portraiture,
Adelaide Labille-Guiard.

[Joseph] She,
and her great rival,

Madame Labille-Guiard,

used to show their finest work
in the Salon,

and each of them tried to beat
the other one.

So, in 1783,

Vigiée-Lebrun did
her self-portrait

wearing a straw hat,

which is one of the great
masterpieces of hers.

The very next Salon,

Madame Labille-Guiard

produced her self-portrait
with her students,

so she was trying to show off,

and to put herself
on the same level as her rival.

[Françoise] Madame Vigée-Lebrun,
who was extremely ambitious,

ardently wanted to attain
the higher hierarchy

of painting,
which was history painting.

[narrator] Among
the history painters,

Jacques Louis David,

member of the Royal Academy,
is the uncontested master.

He will achieve fame in 1784

with his famous painting
‘Oath of the Horatii’,

which will eclipse his rivals.

He will be a precious friend
and advisor to Elisabeth.

[Joseph] She always wanted
to be a history painter,

in the scale of the genres

history painting was
at the very top

and portraiture came
in a much lower...

had a much lower standing.

In the 18th Century,
anatomy is a domain

strictly reserved for men.

The rule for women is
not to see a nude body,

not to be in the presence
of a nude body.

[Katharine] If you couldn’t
draw from a male-nude,

you couldn’t paint history,
you couldn’t paint mythology.

Essentially,

you couldn’t rise to
the highest plane in the arts.

So you were
permanently handicapped.

[narrator] Madame Vigée-Lebrun gets through

thanks to the helping hand
of her royal connections,

and impudently flirts with
the history painting genre

through the work she presents
as her reception piece:

‘Peace bringing back
Prosperity’.

[Juliette] We can see in this,
her desire to be

a history painter,
but using female models,

so remaining within
the limits of decency.

[narrator] But while women
know may know a certain success

as artists,
they are limited

to the minor arts

which are the miniature,
the portrait or still-life.

[Daniele] What’s always
interesting

with these still-lifes is
that these women

are sending a hidden message.

[narrator] Anne Vallayere Coster

is an artist specialized
in this static world

that is still-life,
one of the compositions of which

hides a very distinctive
signature

...of a horrible
press-campaign against her.

Because she was--

she belonged to the circle that

who formed the most
intimate friendships...

with the court of Louis the XVI
and Marie-Antoinette.

She became the official,
or rather the non-official

first painter to the Queen.

[narrator] Elisabeth
is likened to

the much-criticized queen
who’s accused of being clannish,

of spending extravagantly

and of disregarding
court etiquette.

[Juliette] Marie-Antoinette
breaches court etiquette

by choosing her own dressmakers,

which theoretically she
doesn’t have the right to do,

but she overrides this rule,

and this is why she favors
Rose Bertin

as well as other dressmakers,

and why she also favors
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.

She’s really the protector
of both these women.

[narrator] This female
trio represented by

Marie-Antoinette,
Rose Bertin and the portraitist

will become the model
for Parisian taste.

Elisabeth, for her part,

spends very little
on her wardrobe

and invents a simple
and practical dress style

that’s suited to her work.

Leaving aside wigs, hoops,
and adornments,

she wears white cotton blouses
and comfortable skirts

that she embellishes with
a colored belt.

Soon, ladies of the court
and Parisian women

will want to emulate
her style of dress.

[Juliette] She explains
that she wants to change

the fashion codes

and move more
towards simplicity.

She relates
that she’s the first one

not to use powder
on her models,

to have natural-looking hair
in her portraits.

All this takes place
in a historical context,

the 1780s,

influenced by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

and his
‘natural man’ philosophy.

[narrator] Madame Le Brun,
always on the lookout

for new clients,

knows that the salon
of the Royal Academy,

a veritable contemporary
art fair,

is the place to be seen at.

She exhibits her portraits there
at each session.

[Danièle] The art salon
is indispensable,

you have to show yourself.

And this is something
that Vigée-Le Brun excels at,

because not only is she
a woman artist,

she’s also a businesswoman,
a strategist,

who pursues her career
in a very independent way

and who understood marketing
ahead of her time.

[narrator] Elisabeth
and Marie-Antoinette

mutually enhance each other:

the artist simplifies the look
of her royal model

and beautifies it.

But this simplification
has its limits

and for the salon of 1783,

she will propose
a quite unexpected

picture of the queen.

We know the story
of the famous ‘Muslin Dress’

portrait in which
Marie-Antoinette wears

a simple English-style dress,

where the queen progressively
agrees to discard

her heavy stiff gowns

and be represented
in a much simpler manner.

[Juliette] This muslin dress,

which is a simple cotton
muslin dress,

places the spotlight
on a material 'cotton'

that’s normally used
for underwear,

or for a house dress,
at the most.

So it’s particularly audacious
on the part of Vigée-Lebrun

to present a portrait
of Marie-Antoinette

dressed in a muslin dress
in 1783

because this is the first salon
where she’s exhibiting,

and she’s taking
an enormous risk.

A risk she doesn’t entirely
assume however,

because a few days later,

because of the scandal
it provoked,

she withdraws the painting
and replaces it

with an identical portrait

but with the queen wearing
a much more conventional dress.

[narrator] Despite
the scandal

provoked by the portrait,
Marie-Antoinette’s faith

in her portraitist
remains unshaken.

She’ll commission
other portraits from her

and soon one
of her children too.

[Gwenola] We have to place
ourselves in the context.

A few years
after their marriage,

the royal couple’s infertility
becomes an affair of state.

So much so that the arrival
of ‘Madame Royale’,

Marie-Theresa Charlotte,

is a cause
for national celebration,

and then the birth
of the Dauphin,

Louis Joseph Xavier François,

sends the country
into raptures of joy

since there’s now
a male heir to the throne,

ensuring dynastic continuity.

Madame Lebrun is going to
place them

in a pastoral setting,

with the royal children
sitting on the ground.

This is not at all in keeping
with court etiquette,

and yet their costume
still reminds us

of the rank
of Marie-Antoinette’s children

since the heir apparent
wears the insignia

and the celestial blue ribbon
of the Order of the Holy Spirit,

which all children
of the sovereign receive

on the day of their baptism.

Madame Vigée Le Brun
will find the model

for this painting in a work
by one of her elders,

François Hubert Drouais,

called ‘Count d’Artois
and Madame Clotilde’,

they are the brother
and sister of Louis XVI.

[narrator] Pregnant again,

Elisabeth loses
her second child,

aged only a few months.

She transfers
all her affection to Julie.

In the tradition of the virgins
of Raphael whom she admires,

she paints herself with
her arms around her daughter,

an expression of
‘maternal tenderness’

on her face.

In 1787 she paints herself
with her daughter

in a self-portrait
that the critics are immediately

going to name
‘Maternal Tenderness’,

this gentle affection
of the soul.

And this portrait will be
unanimously applauded

at the salon.

It’s true, it does give off
a particularly harmonious image

of the mother-child
relationship,

and it’s this sort of ideal,
symbiotic image

that the artist will try
to preserve

and which will be destroyed
by the reality

of her true relationship
with her daughter.

[narrator] King Louis XVI
and especially Marie-Antoinette,

are the target
of increasingly aggressive

criticisms
and satirical cartoons.

Discontent is brewing,

what should have remained
just an anecdote,

in 1785 becomes a scandal.

The jewelers,
Boehmer and Bassange

had in their safe since 1772

a fabulous 2,800 carat
diamond necklace

intended for Madame Du Barry.

Louis XV dies before
the necklace is delivered.

The jewelers offered it
on two separate occasions

to Marie-Antoinette
who refuses it.

The Countess de la Motte,

concocts an extraordinary plan
to steal the necklace,

compromising the queen.

When the affair comes to light
the countess is arrested

and branded with ‘V'
for ‘voleur’ meaning ‘thief’.

The necklace was never found.

The pamphleteers picked up
the story

of ‘the affair of the necklace’
and refused to believe

in Marie-Antoinette’s innocence.

The scandal destroys what’s left
of the queen’s reputation

in the eyes of the public

who now accuse her
of all kinds of wrongs.

This is why the superintendent
of the King’s Buildings,

d’Angevilliers, is going to
commission from the artist

a portrait of the queen
as a mother with her children.

It’s at a time when the queen
is extremely unpopular,

she’s referred to
as ‘the Austrian’.

There’s this famous
necklace affair,

so it’s really in the aim

of rehabilitating
Marie-Antoinette,

to have people forget
the frivolous young woman

she may have been
and rehabilitate her

through exalting her
in her role as mother.

So it’s a highly political
commission.

It’s a group portrait,
a composition that the artist

isn’t particularly
used to doing,

and it’s also
a very large format portrait,

so she’s going to ask
David for advice.

He suggests
a triangular composition

in order to ‘sanctify’
the painting

and bring to mind
the compositions

of the Renaissance,

and in particular
Raphael’s holy families.

[narrator] Exhibited
in the salon of 1787

between the portrait of Julie
and her mother

and a portrait
of Madame Adelaide

by Labille-Guiard,

the painting could almost allude
to an episode of Roman History,

that of Cornelia,
mother of the Gracchi.

A friend who’d come
to visit Cornelia

and show off her jewelry
asks to see Cornelia’s in turn.

Cornelia replies by gesturing
to her children:

‘These are my treasures
and my finest jewels’.

[Juliette] That’s why we see
in this highly composed

painting,
Queen Marie-Antoinette

with her children,

and behind them,
the queen’s jewel case.

The jewel case is relegated
to the background

and it’s her children
that are placed

in the foreground.

[Gwenola] Placed
on the jewel case

is the royal crown
resting on a cushion

decorated with Fleur-de-lys
to remind us

of the majestic dignity
of the characters.

We’re still in a royal context.

Now this jewel case,
even if it is in the shadows,

can’t help bringing to mind
the recent affair

of the necklace,

so it’s perhaps because of this
that the painting

fails in its purpose.

Everyone sees the portrait;
it’s heavily criticized,

especially for the expression
on the queen’s face,

which is deemed to be too sad.

[Geneviève] It’s far too late

for Marie-Antoinette’s
reputation to be restored.

[narrator] These scandals
don’t make a dent

in Madame Lebrun’s artistic
and social successes.

Her “little antechamber” has
become a very popular salon

in Paris where celebrities
can be counted

amongst the painters, poets
and fashionable musicians.

[Jérôme] Anyone who was
anyone in Paris, in music,

came to her salon.

So who were these people?

Well there was Gluck.

Gluck is a star in France.

Since his arrival at
the Paris Opera House,

he received lots of commissions,

he wrote six great operas
for Paris.

Grétry came to her salon,
she sang with him,

and Grétry was also
a European celebrity.

[Katharine] Everyone came
to her.

She put on very, very
fine entertainments at home.

[soft music]

[narrator] In a constant
spirit of creativity,

Elisabeth lends support
to a movement

that will be very popular up
until the beginning

of the 19th Century: the return
to the ‘Antique’ style.

[Elisabeth]“I will now give you,

my dear friend,

the exact account
of the most brilliant supper

I ever gave in the days
when people were always talking

about my luxurious
and magnificent mode of life.”

While she rests,
her brother would read her poems

or books.

And that day he reads her
an excerpt from a novel

by the Abbot Barthélemy

describing
an Antique-style dinner.

[Elisabeth] “One evening,
when I had invited a dozen

or more friends to hear
a recital by the poet Lebrun,

my brother read aloud to me,

a few pages
of the ‘Travels of Anacharsis’

during my rest.

When he came to
the passage where,

in the description
of a Greek dinner,

the method of preparing
various sauces is explained,

he said
"We ought to try this tonight".

I sent immediately for my cook

and gave her
the necessary instructions

for the preparation
of a certain sauce for the fowl

and of another for the eel.”

“My atelier, full of things
I used for draping my models,

would furnish me with
enough material for garments.

I placed behind the chairs
a large screen,

which I took the precaution
of concealing

beneath some hangings
looped up at intervals,

as may be seen
in Poussin's pictures.

As I was expecting
some very beautiful women,

I thought it a good idea
to dress everybody

in Greek costumes,

in order to have a surprise
ready for Mr de Vaudreuil

who was not expected
till ten o'clock.

As I always wore white gowns
in the form of a tunic,

I needed only to put
a chaplet of flowers on my head.

The preparations were finished.

I took particular pains
in costuming my daughter,

darling child that she was.”

[Geneviève] The guests start
to arrive.

Madame de Bonneuil,
Madame Chalgrin.

She dresses them up
in drapings from her studio,

wraps scarves
and shawls around their waists.

[Elisabeth] “And there
they were,

all three metamorphosed
into perfect Athenians.

Lebrun-Pindare comes in;

and I fix on his head
a crown of laurels.

At ten o'clock we heard
the carriage

of Count de Vaudreuil enter
the courtyard.

He was so surprised
and delighted

that he stood motionless
for a long time

before making up his mind
to take the seat

we had reserved for him.

I do not believe I have ever
spent a more amusing evening.

Monsieur de Vaudreuil
was so delighted

with the evening
that he talked about it to all

his acquaintances the next day.

Some ladies of the Court
begged me to repeat

the performance.

I declined for various reasons,

whereat several of the ladies
took offence.”

[narrator] If the name
of Count Vaudreuil

is so often mentioned
in Madame Le Brun’s ‘Memoirs’

it’s because their relationship
may have been less platonic

than she describes it.

She probably had a liaison
with Count Vaudreuil,

in any case her gardener notes
in his diary

that Madame Le Brun
was Vaudreuil’s mistress.

Madame Le Brun possessed
amongst her objects,

a snuffbox which had
a lock of Vaudreuil’s hair

inlayed in its lid.

There exists a regular
correspondence between them.

This correspondence was burnt
during the Reign of Terror

by Etienne Vigée,
for safety’s sake,

but the fact
that this correspondence existed

gives us a clue.

[narrator] Since the end
of the 1780s,

bad harvests
and ever heavier taxes

weaken and discontent
the population.

Revolts break out.

To find a solution to
the financial crisis,

the king convokes a meeting
of the Estates-General.

On June 20th 1789
in the Jeu de Paume room

at Versailles, the deputies
of the Third Estate,

the Clergy and the Nobility
take an oath not to adjourn

before adopting a Constitution
for France.

On June 30th,
the people of Paris

storm the prison of the Abbey
of Saint-Germain des Près

and free the French Guards
imprisoned there

for insubordination.

On the morning of July 14th,
the Parisian rioters

go looking for arms.

They pillage the arsenal
of the Hôtel des Invalides

and the Royal Treasury
where they find guns and cannons

but no powder.

They’ll find some at
the Bastille

together with other partisans
of the revolution

amassed in front of the fortress
prison in Faubourg Saint-Antoine

since that morning.

The storming and destruction
of the Bastille,

symbol of arbitrary power,
begins.

An atmosphere of insecurity
spreads through Paris

and Louise Elisabeth
feels herself in danger.

Inscriptions are scrawled
on the newly renovated walls

of the Lebrun mansion.

she can no longer show herself
at the window.

[narrator] A new
municipal administration

is going to be set up.

Louis XVI goes to Paris
on July 17th

and agrees to wear pinned
to his hat the tricolor cockade

a combination of blue and red,
the colors of Paris,

with the royal white.

During the night
of August 4th 1789,

the assembly abolishes
aristocratic privilege.

The society of the Old Order
is living its final moments.

Louise Elisabeth,
who doesn’t want to stay

at the Lebrun house,

goes to Louveciennes
where she’s promised

Madame Du Barry,

the former favorite
of Louis XV,

to paint her portrait.

She finds a moment of peace
in this setting

where she admires
the view of the Seine hillsides.

[narrator] At Louveciennes
time seems to have stood still.

But the peace is deceptive.

Paris is under siege

and violent rioting rages day
and night in the suburbs.

[Elisabeth] “From Louveciennes
we could hear cannon fire

in the distance,

and I remember
the poor woman saying,

“If Louis XV were alive,

none of this
would be happening.”

[narrator] Elisabeth knows
that she has to leave France.

It’s effectively the moment
for her to go into exile.

She waited, however,
until October before leaving.

Unlike Count d’Artois,
who left on July the 14th.

[narrator] On October 5th
1789,

a crowd, mainly women, makes
its way towards Versailles.

The king receives a delegation.

But at break of day
on October 6th,

the horde storms the palace,
killing several guards.

To calm the situation,
Louis XVI agrees

to go with his family
to the Tuileries palace.

They’re escorted through
an angry, vociferous crowd.

The heads of guards
are brandished on pikes.

For Elisabeth,
flight is now inevitable.

By a strange coincidence,
she’ll take the stagecoach

the day after the royal family
is led from Versailles

to the Town Hall,
then to the Tuileries.

[narrator] That night,
disguised as working women,

Elisabeth, Brunette
and her governess

climb into the stagecoach.

[soft music]

Her brother Etienne,
Jean-Baptiste Lebrun

and their friend Hubert Robert,
ride at the side of the coach

up to the Saint Antoine barrier.

The first stage of the journey
will take Elisabeth to Lyon.

She doesn’t know it yet
but this journey will last

thirteen years.

Thirteen years of exile
throughout Europe.

[morose instrumental music]

[narrator] Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

left Paris with
very little luggage

and just enough money
to pay her fare to Rome,

hoping she would not
be recognized

and could pass the border
without mishap.

[Elisabeth] Opposite me
in the stagecoach

was a man who told me
quite simply

that he had stolen watches
and other things.

Not satisfied with relating
his fine exploits to us,

the thief talked incessantly
of stringing up

such and such people
on lamp-posts,

naming a number
of my own acquaintances.

My daughter thought this man
very wicked.

He frightened her,

and this gave me
the courage to say,

"I beg you, sir,
not to talk of killing

before this child."

That silenced him,

and he ended by playing
battle with my daughter.

[narrator] After a stop
in Lyon,

the traveler then reached
Chambéry in the state of Savoy.

Once outside of France,
she finally felt safe.

But she was recognized
by a postilion

while she crossed
the Mont Cenis Pass,

simply because he had seen
an engraving

of her self-portrait
with her daughter.

Madame Lebrun's celebrity
had been fueled

by the spread throughout
Europe of engravings

of her most famous portraits.

Reassured for a while,

she continued
on her way to Rome.

The young woman decided
to leave on what would appear

like a study trip to Italy.

The Grand Tour in Italy
was a rite of passage

for painters.

So off she went,
leaving her husband

but taking her daughter.

[narrator] In the late
eighteenth century,

travel was fashionable.

Exiles, traders and artists
in search of patrons

criss-crossed Europe
in stagecoaches, cabs

and carriages.

New roads and repairs
to old roads

were shortening travel time.

In 1750, it took twelve days
to cross France,

whereas fifteen years later,
eight sufficed.

In 1780, the public coaches
were still twice as fast

on the royal roads,

while the invention
of spring suspension

eased the travelers' tiredness.

Fresh horses awaited riders
and carriages at post houses,

in order to accelerate
mail delivery.

Here, inns would cater
to travelers' appetites

and sometimes provide
basic accommodation.

Since the seventeenth century,
Rome had been the homeland

of all European artists.

The circulation of the paintings
of Italian artists

and the creation
of large collections

ensured that the whole
of Europe was familiar

with the works of the masters.

The "Grand Tour",
as it was called,

was a study trip,
not just for artists,

but also for young gentlemen

keen to round out
their education.

Italian landscapes were
in fashion at the time.

In France, Joseph Vernet
romanticized Naples and Rome

whereas Hubert Robert
specialized in depicting

ancient Roman ruins.

[Geneviève] The artist
did break her journey;

first in Turin,
then in Parma.

Finally she traveled to Bologna
where she stayed for some time.

[narrator] In this town,
the first thing the young woman

wanted to see was a picture
she had heard of by Domenichino:

the Martyrdom of Saint Agnes.

Soon after her arrival,
she was gazing

at the painting at length,
moved by the youth

and innocence
of the young martyr.

Suddenly the organ
struck up the overture

to Iphigénie en Tauride,

one of Marie Antoinette's
favorite arias.

Saint Ephigenia and the queen
merged into one tragic image.

The traveler burst into tears.

A flood of memories
of happy, light-hearted times

that seemed forever lost,

and for the first time
she deeply felt the solitude

of exile.

From Bologna she
journeyed to Florence,

where she decided to linger.

In the Uffizi Gallery,
enriched by the Medicis,

she explored the masterpiece
of Michelangelo,

Titian, Raphael,
and in the Palazzo Pitti,

those of Rubens and Rembrandt.

For a time,
the wealth of wonders

made her forget Paris
and the revolution,

and she set off once more
for Rome,

spiritual home of all artists.

[Elisabeth] "You know,
dear friend,

that just a short distance
from Rome

Saint Peter's dome is visible?

I cannot tell you the joy
I felt upon seeing it.

I thought I was dreaming of what
I had so long desired in vain.

[soft music]

Only the satisfaction of living
in Rome

could soothe my sorrow
at leaving my land,

my family,
and so many beloved friends."

[narrator] Upon arrival,
the portraitist was taken in

by her friend,
the painter Ménageot,

director of the French Academy.

He lent her a little money.

[Geneviève] Ménageot admired
her greatly,

and she loved to hear him
talk about painting.

It's possible
that a platonic relationship

developed between them.

[narrator] Founded in 1666 by Colbert

and later installed
in the Palazzo Mancini,

the Academy welcomed
"pensionnaires"

chosen by the Académie Royale.

Her fame had crossed borders
and orders from exiled emigrants

and Italian nobles
came flooding in.

She was even invited
by the Vatican

to execute
a portrait of Pope Pius VI.

Elisabeth refused the commission

as custom would have insisted
on her being veiled

for the sittings,

which she saw as incompatible
with the quality of her work.

[Françoise] When she
arrived in Rome,

she came across
an already established

female painter

even more successful
than herself: Angelica Kauffman.

[narrator] Like
Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun,

Angelica Kauffman
was a precocious artist.

Born in Switzerland,
also into a family of painters,

she traveled throughout
Europe at a young age,

acquiring
a cosmopolitan clientele.

In London,
she was one of the founders

of the Royal Academy,

and her portraits were
sought after among the gentry.

Angelica Kauffmann has
a rather different background.

She started out
an international artist.

She had a father who was
a journeyman painter.

She once was in fact
a history painter

a good part of her life,

and that’s one
of the great differences

between the two of them

and she was traveling all over
Switzerland and north Italy

when she was very young.

I dare say that she was
a more international artist

than even Vigée-Lebrun.

[Françoise] In her memoirs,
Madame Vigée Le Brun

speaks of Angelica Kauffman,

saying she was very intelligent

and that what she did
was pretty.

You could sense
she didn't want to say

she was a good painter.

She just said she was
very cultured but rather boring.

[narrator] Despite
the unfavorable review,

Elisabeth was flattered
to appear at the theater

or the opera alongside
the most famous

of her colleagues.

[Geneviève] She was thrilled
that all the spectators

finally acclaimed them
as the two most famous

female artists in Europe.

[narrator] Though
the male-written history books

may have forgotten their names

great museums
and international collectors

have fought over
the masterpieces

of Rosalba Carriera,
Angelica Kauffmann,

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
and Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun.

Female painters were prisoners
of their category,

but some, such as
Marie Guillemine Benoist,

did break free.

Despite the critics
Elisabeth's former pupil,

launched herself
into genre painting

like this portrait
of a Black woman,

which would become a symbol
of the emancipation of slaves

and of feminism.

[Daniele] You get the impression
there were very few

women painters or artists

and that the men
far outnumbered them.

But you gradually realize

that there really were
quite a few

but they were kept in the shade

and forced into the background
in regard to the men.

[narrator] Noting
that lots of foreigners

were leaving to spend
the summer in Naples,

Elisabeth decided to go there

after spending several months
in Rome.

[Elisabeth] "We reached Naples
at about three or four o'clock.

I cannot describe
the impression I received

upon entering the town.

That burning sun,
that stretch of sea,

those islands seen
in the distance,

that Vesuvius with
a great column of smoke

ascending from it.

I was enchanted by all of it."

[Geneviève] In Naples,
one of the first people

she got to know
was Lord Hamilton,

in whose entourage was
the famous Lady Hamilton,

or rather the soon-to-be
Lady Hamilton,

whom the artist painted
many times.

Owing to her
extraordinary physique,

she was already sitting
for Reynolds,

and her likenesses were
well-known throughout Europe.

[narrator] Emma Hart,
the future Lady Hamilton,

began her career
in a London tavern.

Thanks to her
astonishing beauty,

she found,
with several English gentlemen,

the protection she required.

Despite her scandalous
reputation,

Emma managed in 1791
to wed Lord Hamilton,

British ambassador to Naples.

The portrait of her as Sybil
would be used

by Elisabeth as a reference work
to acquire new clients.

[Geneviève] This portrait
would be very important

in her career.

She carried it with her

and at each stage
of her European tour would

unroll it,

pin it in a frame
and thus advertise her talent.

In Naples, she was soon
introduced to the royal family,

more particularly
to Marie Caroline,

who was Marie Antoinette's
elder sister.

[narrator] Elisabeth
was very moved

by the striking resemblance
between the two sisters

and painted a portrait
of Marie Caroline

in virtually the same pose
as Marie Antoinette.

Of this fine portrait,
only copies remain.

One morning in the summer
of 1790,

French ambassador
Baron de Talleyrand

brought her a commission
from the Queen of Naples:

that of the portrait
of her two daughters,

whom she sought to marry.

[Elisabeth] "The hour of noon
was appointed for the sittings,

and to attend I was obliged
to follow the Chiaja road

in the heat of the day.

The sun's reflection
was so vivid

that I was almost struck blind.

To save my eyes,
I put on a green veil,

which I had never seen
anyone else do,

and which must have looked
rather peculiar,

since only black or white veils
were worn.

But a few days after
I saw several English women

imitating me,

and green veils
came into fashion."

[narrator] The fashion
was launched and,
with a hint of vanity,

she boasted
of inventing a style
that other women adopted.

Though a pioneer of fashion
abroad, she did not want
to be forgotten in France.

So, using Ménageot
as go-between,

she sent off a portrait
to the Salon du Louvre.

[Francoise] For the 1791 Salon,
she sent, rolled
in a painting by Ménageot,

her portrait of Paisiello,
the musician.

A magnificent portrait

which was exhibited
with the paintings
of David, etc.

[Gwenola]
She painted him in 1790,
in a moment of inspiration.

His eyes were raised heavenward.

He was composing
on the harpsichord

and seemed to be seeking
divine inspiration.

It's a recurrent image
in Madame Vigée Le Brun's
body of work.

She also painted
Angélica Catalani,
a soprano,

one of Paisiello's artists,

also in this attitude
of divine inspiration.

[narrator] While Elisabeth
was persona non gratain France,

her rival,
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard,

who rallied
to the revolutionary cause,

portrayed Robespierre
and his friends,

thus attempting
to ensure the support
of the new strongmen in Paris.

Back in Rome,
Madame Vigée Le Brun returned
to her friend François Ménageot

and set to work once more.

Two daughters of Louis XV,
Madame Adélaïde
and Madame Victoire

both in exile, called her and,
during a sitting, informed her
of some tragic news.

In the night of June 21 1791,

the royal family left
the Tuileries Palace in secret

and took a coach
bound for Lorraine,

towards the French troops
that had remained
loyal to the king.

Traveling with fake passports,
the runaways were nonetheless
recognized in Varennes

and taken back to Paris
by the National Guard.

The royal escape was viewed
as a betrayal
of the Constitution.

The idea of a Republic
was gaining ground

and supporters
of the abolition of the Monarchy
used this event

to accuse Louis XVI of rallying
to France's enemies.

[Geneviève] The artist
had planned to return to France

after a three-year stay
in Italy.

[narrator] On the way,
she lingered in Tuscany,

where her love of nature
was matched by the richness
of the landscapes.

She made a visit to Venice,

where she was charmed
by its architecture
on wooden piles

and by the many parties
she attended with a writer
and engraver friend,

also a refugee,
Dominique Vivant Denon,

who had fun
making an engraving
of her self-portrait.

[soft music]

Keen to return to France,
Elisabeth headed for Turin.

But the city was
filled with émigrés

fleeing the bloody massacres
in Paris

from September 2 to 7, 1792.

[Elisabeth]"On entering the town,
great heavens!

Streets, squares,
were all filled with thousands
of people of all ages,

who had fled from French towns
and come to Turin
in search of a home.

The sight broke my heart.

Trembling, I dared only
ask for news of my mother,
my brother,

Mr. Lebrun and all my friends,
and abandoned the plan
of going to Paris."

[narrator] The young woman
realized that she could not
return to France.

Shattered,
she turned back towards Milan.

She was advised
by Count Wilczeck,
Austrian ambassador to Milan,

and decided to win over
a new clientele in Vienna.

Elisabeth entered
the Holy Roman capital
in summer 1792,

and there she stayed
for three years.

[Geneviève] Her time
was split between concerts,
melancholy strolls in Schönbrunn

and, of course, the production
of paintings for all the Poles
and the diplomats in Vienna.

[Elisabeth] "I worked
a great deal in Vienna.

It would be difficult
to express

all the gratitude I felt
for the reception
I was afforded in this town.

Not only did the Viennese
express their affection
for me personally,

they thought it stylish
to place my paintings in a way
that set them off best."

[narrator]Elisabeth was a perfect colorist

who had learned
to grind pigments into powder

by binding them
with various raw or cooked oils.

She claimed
that these preparations

were the secret
of her colors' freshness.

But the quick-drying paint
had to be used immediately.

Not until 1841
did the revolutionary
tin-foil tube of paint

allow painters to carry
their already-prepared colors.

Viewed as an immigrant,
Madame Vigée-Lebrun
lost her citizen's rights.

In 1793, her husband published
a long plea that his wife
be permitted to return to Paris.

A petition signed by 255 artists
was handed to the authorities.

To no avail.

Lebrun was arrested
and incarcerated
for several months,

as was Elisabeth's brother,
Etienne.

Lebrun, to protect himself
and to preserve their assets,

filed for divorce,
which was granted in 1794.

In Vienna, she was glad
to find the Comte de Vaudreuil,

whose closeness to the Court
had forced him into exile
in 1789.

But the pleasure
of their meeting

was soon overshadowed
by echoes of the Terror.

In early 1793,
devastating news
spread across Europe.

[Elisabeth] "I thus heard
of the horrible occurrence
through my brother,

who wrote it down
and sent the letter

without giving any
further particulars whatever.

His heart broken,

he simply wrote
that Louis the XVI
and Marie Antoinette

had perished on the scaffold.

Afterward, from compassion
toward myself,

I always abstained
from putting the least question

concerning what accompanied
or preceded that awful murder.

King,

queen, friend...

I lost all of them."

[narrator] Elisabeth listened
to the Russian ambassador's
suggestion that there was

a new wealthy clientele
to be found.

Despite the distance
and the risks of such a journey,

she decided to try her hand
in St. Petersburg.

She left Vienna
with a few letters
of recommendation

and a passport,

and a stage-by-stage itinerary.

[narrator] Berlin, Dresden,
Postdam, Rheinsberg

where she stayed
with Prince Henry of Prussia,
brother to the king,

Konigsberg, Riga
and finally St Petersburg.

Three thousand kilometers
of exhausting,
sometimes dangerous roads.

[classical piano music]

[piano music continues]

[narrator]Elisabeth and Brunette

moved into an apartment
located on the main
Winter Palace Square.

From her windows
she could gaze upon the splendor
of the imperial residence

and the nobility of the angles
described by the avenues
that opened up before her.

[violin and piano music]

She arrived
in summer '95, the end
of Catherine the Great's reign.

[Alexandre] It was a time
when all French immigrants
looked upon Russia

as the new land of Renaissance.

Back then,
revolution was a constant.

All the kings
were engaged in wars,

and the two countries
where peace reigned were Russia

and the United States
of America, the New World.

[classical music]

[narrator]Sophie Friederike Auguste,
the future Catherine the Great,

was the daughter
of German Prince Christian
August von Anhalt-Zerbst.

At fifteen she married
the future Peter III of Russia.

Immature and unstable,

Peter was overthrown
six months into his reign
by a coup d'état

organized by his wife,

and was strangled
several days later,

no doubt by her lover,
Count Grigori Orlov.

French-speaking
and extremely cultured,

Catherine became
sovereign empress and reigned
for more than thirty years.

Two days after her arrival
in St. Petersburg,

Madame Vigée
was officially summoned
to an audience with the Czarina.

Perhaps too sure of her standing
as an international artist,

and wearing a simple white tunic
unsuited to the situation,

she forgot the ceremonial
kissing of the hand

and simply bowed,
without kneeling to the Empress.

This hiccough in protocol
was considered offensive
by the Imperial courtiers,

who became hostile
to the portraitist.

Despite that, her celebrity
as Marie Antoinette's painter

kindled the interest
and curiosity
of the St. Petersburg nobility.

[Geneviève] Madame Le Brun
was particularly touched

by the welcome bestowed on her
by the Russian nobility.

Princess Dolgorukaya invited her
for a week to her dacha,

where she made the acquaintance
of someone who was to be
very important to her,

Princess Kourakina,

who would later be
the dedicatee of her memoirs
and an extremely loyal friend.

[narrator] All the young ladies
of the Russian nobility
spoke French,

and they warmly welcomed
this ambassador of fashion,
taste, and French customs.

In the eighteenth century,
all Russians had to make
a pilgrimage to Paris,

not for studies, obviously.

In Paris they would learn
how to dress, to speak,

even how to cough,

blow one's nose
and wear a hat properly.

In short, to become
a perfect Parisian.

[narrator] Though her famous
Greek supper made headlines
in France in 1789,

her reputation for high living
crossed borders.

In St. Petersburg, they still
talk of a party costing
40,000 pounds,

the equivalent
of 400,000 euros

whereas Elisabeth
speaks only of 15 pounds.

She dressed her models
in the Greek style,
significant in Russia,

and that she herself claimed
to have made fashionable.

The artist was able
to create for herself
a certain dress style,

expressed in such a way
that her charm

and the attraction
she exerted over her circle

encouraged the desire
to imitate her.

[piano playing softly]

[narrator]The mid-eighteenth century
witnessed an explosion

of Grecomania.

With the spread of engravings
that reproduced frescoes

found in Pompeii
and Herculaneum.

Even the revolutionary
celebrations were
inspired by antiquity.

Previously the child

wasn't really thought of
as a person.

They weren't even sure
whether it had a soul.

This idea of a child
as a person in their own right

gradually led
to more and more
family portraits.

[narrator]The Empress, who loved
her two granddaughters,

the archduchesses
Elena and Alexandra,

placed an order
for their portrait.

Elisabeth painted them
as rather languid,

in an atmosphere of innocence,
with bare arms.

Catherine took
great offense of that.

And she complained about it,
and Vigée Le Brun

had to scrape it off the canvas

and start all over again.

It just would not do.

Even the portrait
of these little girls

had to embody
the power of the nation.

As she herself
embodied the strength
of the world's greatest empire.

[narrator] It was
during this same period

that she met
Stanislas Poniatowski,
deposed King of Poland,

then under house arrest
in St. Petersburg.

Sent by his uncle to Russia,

Stanislas benefited
from the protection
of Catherine the Great,

who became besotted
with the young man

and had him restored
to the Polish throne.

He was the last king
of an independent Poland.

She told an anecdote.

One day, when she was painting,
he came to her workshop

and she called out:
"I am not at home!"

The king left.

She then realized
how bold she had been

and, in turn,
went to see him
to proffer her excuses.

He told her he quite understood
how a very busy artist
shouldn't be disturbed,

and wasn't at all angry.

And there we have an insight
into the character of this man
she particularly liked.

She painted
a very flattering portrait
of him in words.

"Stanislas was tall,
gentle, kind, etc."

You can tell that theirs
was a beautiful friendship.

[narrator]Despite her mother's wishes
to the contrary,

Brunette was determined to marry
a young, impecunious secretary
from St. Petersburg

of Italian origin,
Gaetano Nigris.

The rows became
increasingly violent.

Madame Le Brun gave in
to her daughter

and obtained
her husband's consent
to Julie's marriage.

[Elisabeth]"Owing to the distance,

her father's answer
was long delayed,

and someone convinced her
that I had only written
to Mr. Lebrun

to prevent him from assenting
to what she called her felicity.

She said to me one day,

'I post your letters,
but I am sure you write others
to the contrary.'

[indistinct chatter]

I was stunned and heartbroken,

when at that very moment
the postman arrived
with a letter

from Mr. Lebrun,
giving his consent."

[indistinct chatter]

"But the cruel child showed
not the least gratitude
at what I had done for her

in immolating all my wishes,
hopes and dislikes.

The wedding was nevertheless
enacted a few days later."

[narrator] After almost
seven years in Russia,

Madame Vigée, tempted to settle
in St. Petersburg for good,
bitterly faced the facts.

Towards the end of her stay,
orders were fewer
than at the beginning,

because in fact
there weren't ever
that many prospective clients.

[slow classical music]

[narrator] The break-up
with Julie was complete.

Mother and daughter
no longer spoke to one another.

She held no official position,

her clientele
was becoming scarcer

and she had to go to Moscow
to consolidate her fortune.

Her health deteriorated
and she became prone
to fits of melancholy.

[sad classical music]

In June 1800, she learned
that she had been removed
from the list of émigrés,

meaning that nothing
stood in the way
of a return to France.

Despite regrets,
as she thought of Russia
as her second home,

she made up her mind
to return to Paris.

She returned to France alone,

and was amazed how much
the smiling, pleasant landscapes
of her outward journey

now seemed dull,
sad and melancholy.

"A landscape is a state
of the soul," she would say,
so for her it was a sad return.

[narrator] After a long
and arduous trip,

Elisabeth entered the capital
with a heavy heart
on January 18 1802.

Jean Baptiste
was waiting for her on the steps
of the Hôtel Lubert.

Despite their divorce,
the emotion was palpable.

That night he made
a laconic entry in his notebook.

"Arrival in Paris
of Madame Vigée.

Her absence,
from her departure on October 6
to January 18 1802,

lasted 12 years,
three months
and twelve days."

[Geneviève] She realized
that the world had changed.

She could not get used
to Parisian life,
to French life.

Customs had changed;
it was no longer
the society she had known.

[narrator]After the coup d'étatof November 9 1799,

which overthrew
the French Directory,

the Constitution
of the Year VIII

established an authoritarian
political regime

headed by First Consul
Napoleon Bonaparte,

a brilliant general
swept to prominence

by the success of his campaigns
in Italy and Egypt.

Five years later, in 1804,
Bonaparte declared himself
emperor of the French people

and became Napoleon I.

A new nobility was established
in the mansions of Paris.

But Madame Le Brun,
devoted to the Bourbons
and the Ancien Régime,

couldn't get used
to their ways

and displayed a hostility
that soon displeased
the new emperor.

[Joseph] She stays in Paris
just a short time...

and she fulfills
several commissions

she had received
while she was in Russia,

and she made pastels studies

of certain people
that she produced
oil portraits of,

and then sent them back
to Russia and to Germany.

[narrator]In late 1802, Madame Vigée
announced her intention

to take
a two-year trip to England,

in the hope of finding
a new clientele.

[Joseph] She picked up
her brushes

and her paint box
and traveled to London.

[narrator] At the time,
England boasted some
eight hundred portraitists,

competition was fierce

and the artist's
extremely expensive fees
tended to work against her.

Very soon, Madame Vigée Lebrun
stepped back
from English society,

which she found profoundly
dull and monotonous and said,

"I am not surprised English
adopted the word ‘spleen’.

Your mirth equates
to our boredom."

[narrator] A cabal headed
by the painter Hopner

did not help her status
as a foreigner in the Kingdom
of Great Britain.

[Joseph]Hopner never got anywhere
near the prices that she got.

So he was very, very upset,

and he was something of a poet,
so he wrote a poem,

and he really gives her...

like we say here,
he gives her what for.

[narrator] As the Emperor
wished to portray
the members of his dynasty,

Madame Vigée,
in Paris once more,
received an official commission

for the portrait
of his sister Caroline,
Princess Murat.

The artist, unable to refuse,
grudgingly did her duty.

The thoughtless Caroline's
repeated lateness
for her sittings

exasperated the portraitist,
who observed,

"I have painted real princesses
who never worried me,
and never made me wait."

In the summer of 1807,
Paris was invaded
by a stifling heat.

Madame Vigée bowed
to the Alpine fashion

and organized
a trip to Switzerland.

[Geneviève]Twice, in 1807 and 1808,

she travels a different circuit
through Switzerland.

[narrator] On this occasion
she stayed with Madame de Staël.

Germaine de Staël
was living in semi-exile
in the Château de Coppet.

The literary
and philosophical
salon she held in Paris

had aroused
the suspicions
of the emperor,

who forbade her
from re-entering France.

Elisabeth and Madame de Staël
shared a love of the arts

and a hostility
towards Napoleon.

The author
of Corinne ou l'Italie
and the portraitist

were two illustrious women,
defenders of the Ancien Régime
and totally independent.

On April 3 1814,
the Senate proclaimed
the deposition of Napoleon.

Charles, Count of Artois
and brother of Louis XVI,

preceded his brother
the future Louis XVIII

and made a triumphant entrance
into Paris on April 12.

Loyal royalist Madame le Brun
left her house in Louveciennes
and hastened to the capital,

where she cried tears of joy
for the restoration
of the Bourbons.

[violin playing softly]

[narrator] But her happiness
was short-lived, shattered
by news of her daughter,

Brunette, who had separated
from her husband

and was living
in a modest boarding house
in Paris.

She was slowly
sinking into poverty.

The links between mother
and daughter had weakened.

Destroyed by drink
and occasional prostitution,
Julie had contracted syphilis.

Informed of her plight,
Madame Lebrun hurried
to her bedside.

[Elisabeth] "I hastened to her
as soon as I heard
of her illness,

but the disease
progressed rapidly, and...

I cannot tell
what I felt when all hope
of saving her was gone."

[dramatic classical music]

"When, going to see her
the last day,

my eyes fell
upon that dreadfully
sunken face,

I fainted away."

[dramatic music continues]

[speaks in French]

[Elisabeth]"The next day I was childless!

I saw her again,
I still see her,
in the days of her childhood.

Alas! She was so young!
Why did she not survive me?"

[narrator] Madame Lebrun
didn't understand what mistakes
she had made with Julie.

Didn't she try to pass on
her passion for painting?

Closeness turned
to incomprehension,
and then into violent disputes.

The independent young woman
couldn't find her place
alongside her too-talented,

too-famous mother.

Madame Lebrun looked
to her nieces for comfort,

and passed on to them
her precious advice
on portrait painting.

[Xavier] It is interesting
to note just how much,

when you look at this work
and read the advice she gives
to Eugénie Tripier Lefranc,

her counsel
mirrors her execution.

She says, "The shadows must be
both strong and transparent,
not thickened,

and in a mature tone,
accompanied by firm,
lively touches in the cavities,

such as the eye-socket,
the recess of the nostrils,

and the shadowy
internal parts of the ear."

And it's true that
when you approach and study
the recess of the eye,

you have a whole series
of stroke in red and black chalk

that provide the eyes
with their shadow.

It seems to me that,
as a technical artist,

Vigée-Lebrun
was extremely gifted.

For a woman who did not
have formal training,

she is an impeccable technician.

And one of the things
about her works is that if they
hadn’t been interfered with,

or suffered some
accidental damage,

they’re likely to be
in an extremely good state
of preservation.

She must have known a lot
about color, because you rarely
see any of these discolorations,

which are caused
by alterations in the material.

[narrator] France underwent
another revolution:
the July Revolution of 1830.

The people of Paris rose up
against the authority
of Charles X,

barricaded the streets
and clashed
with the armed forces,

resulting
in one thousand deaths.

The son of Philippe Egalité,
who had voted for the execution
of King Louis XVI,

took the throne
under the name Louis Philippe.

It was the start of a new era,
and no longer
that of Madame Le Brun.

She gave herself over
to memories of happier times.

For a dozen years,
she took notes and wrote,
aided by her nieces,

who copied out the manuscript.

She appended corrections
in the margin.

Presumably, she began
to write her memoirs
when she wrote her first will.

It's as if she felt
at peace with herself

and that it was time
to let herself write down
her memories.

[Geneviève] I think
it was a much deeper desire,

that of wanting to live
a second time and to relive
those moments of happiness,

because there's something
very characteristic
in the writing of these memoirs

that radiates a glow
of happiness, of discovery,

and the most negative things
in her life

were only to be found
in the accompanying documents.

[Joseph] So she wanted
to leave a portrait of herself
that she herself sanctioned,

and so she started,
she listened to the advisers
and she started to write them.

It used to be said
that she didn’t write them,

that there were ghost writers
who worked for her.

This is not true because we know
that there are big batches
of her original manuscripts.

[narrator] Though these memoirs
are a precious document in terms
of the worlds she encountered,

they are equally important
as an account of her own life.

Madame Vigée Le Brun
recalled a scene
with Marie Antoinette

whose veracity
still causes controversy.

[Elisabeth] "One day I happened
to miss the appointment
she had given me for a sitting.

Far gone in my second pregnancy,
I had suddenly become unwell.

The next day
I hastened to Versailles
to offer my excuses.

Her Majesty
was finishing her toilet.

My heart was beating violently,
for I knew that I was
in the wrong.

But the Queen looked up at me
and said most amiably,

'I was waiting for you
all the morning yesterday.
What happened to you?'

'I am sorry to say,
Your Majesty,' I replied,

'I was so ill
that I was unable to comply
with Your Majesty's commands.

I am here to receive more now,
and then I will
immediately retire.'

'No, no! Do not go!'
exclaimed the Queen.

'I do not want you to have made
your journey for nothing!'

She revoked
the order for her carriage
and gave me a sitting.

I remember that,
in my confusion and my eagerness
to make a fitting response

to her kind words,
I opened my paint-box
so excitedly

that I spilled my brushes
on the floor.

I stooped down to pick them up.
'Never mind, never mind,'
said the Queen,

and, for aught I could say,
she insisted on gathering them
all up herself."

[cheerful classical music]

[Juliette] Naturally, it's good
for Vigée Le Brun's ego
to say that the queen

picked up her brushes,
and that's what you'd put
in your memoirs.

Many testimonies
support the assertion

that Marie Antoinette
was a simple woman,

close to her suppliers,
who sometimes dispensed
with protocol.

So this anecdote seems probable.

Its inclusion in her memoirs

indicates that Vigée Le Brun
attached a lot of importance
to this, too.

There's a tendency
to embellish the past,

that's quite natural,

and to favor
the good memories.

You can at once be quite sincere
and yet, in reality,

it may be a lie
from a strictly
historical perspective.

But this doesn't mean
her version is insincere.

[narrator] Aged almost eighty,
Madame Vigée was still
a famous personality in Paris.

Summer Sundays in Louveciennes,
winter in her Parisian apartment
in the St Lazare neighborhood,

she threw parties
where the younger generations,
drawn by her reputation,

would love
to hear her anecdotes.

Chateaubriand, Vigny,
Musset and Balzac seemed
fascinated by this woman,

a brilliant conversationalist,

who was once painter
to Marie Antoinette
and the courts of Europe.

She had a poetic sensibility
and received Vigny at her salon.

She received Chateaubriand,

she liked reading Lamartine,

although she didn't really
appreciate Victor Hugo's novel,
Notre Dame de Paris.

Politically, she resembles
a person like Chateaubriand,

who was very much in favor
of a constitutional monarchy.

I think she would have preferred
the old regime as it was,

but a constitutional monarchy
would have worked for her also.

[Geneviève] This sensitivity
to new forms, and new poetry,
changed her taste.

[Jerome] She was
on the lookout
for what was happening.

she heard of Chopin,
and things like that.

It was her musical gateway
to what we might call modernity.

It heralded
the Romantic generation,
which interested her.

[narrator] Artists of 1840
rediscovered the charm

of the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance,

and embraced Neo Gothic fashion.

In painting,
the ruins of cathedrals

replaced Hubert Robert's
Roman remains.

In tandem
with the Troubadourstyle nostalgia,

mid-nineteenth-century France
was undergoing profound social,
economic and political change.

The accession
of the bourgeoisie

to manufacturing
and financial affairs

proved a huge shot in the arm
for economic growth.

This was
the Industrial Revolution,

which was accompanied
by the rise of railways
and technical advances

in new energies,
textiles and metallurgy.

It might be fun to imagine
the doubtful reaction

of Queen Marie Antoinette's
portraitist faced with these
curious miniatures

bearing the strange name
daguerreotypes,which first appeared in 1835.

The static bodies,
frozen expressions,
poor quality rendering

and the crudeness of reality
probably inspired thoughts
of the end of a world,

her world,
that of a talented
portrait artist

who knew so well
how to embellish the face
and to convey the soul.

She passed away
quietly in April 1842,
attended by her nieces.

Having painted
more than 660 portraits,
known fame and criticism,

luxury and exile,
monarchies and revolutions,

the greatest artists
and the most powerful Europeans
of her time,

having covered
countless tens of thousands
of kilometers,

the tireless traveler,
eighty-seven years old,

chose this epitaph
for her grave in Louveciennes:
Here at last I rest.

[slow classical music]