Vigée Le Brun's Home Page | Index to Art Pages | Vigée Le Brun's Gallery ART PAGE 2 Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat (age 22) - 1782 Oil on canvas, 97.8 x 70.5 cm National Gallery, London Through her talents as a portraitist Vigee Le Brun became one of the most successful of all women painters. Before the French Revolution she was painter and friend to Queen Marie-Antoinette, and she moved in the highest social circles. In this self portrait of 1782 the pretty, youthful artist looks out, with a candid gaze. The self portrait is closely based on Rubens's portrait of his sister inlaw Susanna Lunden which is also in the National Gallery. Vigee Le Brun saw Ruben's painting in Antwerp in the van Havre collection. View a large image of this portrait. Madame Thérèse Vestris - 1803 oil on canvas 35"x 28" National Museum of Women in the Arts Another portrait of this sitter is on Art Page 69. Alexandre Charles Emmanuel de Crussol-Florensac - 1787 Oil on Wood, 35.5 x 25.5 in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City This portrait is considered one of Vigee Le Brun's finest. It shows the sitter at the height of his military career, 2 years before the revolution. He wears the blue sash and the gold collar of the "Order of the Holy Ghost" and the cross of the "Knights of Malta." Crossol entered the service of the Comte d'artois (the future Charles X) in 1773, accompanying the prince at the seige of Gibraltar in 1782. During the revolution he fought for the Royalists. After the restoration of the monarchy he was elevated to peerage in 1814 by Louis XVIII. Vigee Le Brun's portrait of Alexandre's cherished companion, "The Marquise de Grollier," may be considered a pendant to this work. View a larger vimage of this painting.View this painting in the MET French Gallery. Vigée Le Brun's Home Page | Index to Art Pages | Vigée Le Brun's Gallery