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ART PAGE 5
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Marie Antoinette - 1783
oil on canvas, 44 1/2" x 34 1/4"
Versailles
Vigee Le Brun painted 30 portraits of Marie Antoinette over a ten year period.
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Madame Royale and the Dauphin Louis Joseph - 1784
Oil on canvas, 52" x 37" (132 x 94 cm)
Versailles The Two Elder Children of Marie Antoinette. Dauphin, Louis Joseph Xavier Francois at age four (1781-1789) and the Madame Royale, Marie Therese Charlotte (1778-1851), painted at Versailles. Louis-Joseph died of natural
causes early in the year that the revolution began.
View another color version of this painting. Reference Kimbell Exhibition Catalog Number 13 for more details. This portrait was displayed in the 2015 Paris Exhibition.
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Marie Antoinette and her children - 1787
Oil on canvas, 104" x 82"
Versailles
This is one of the last portraits that Vigee Le Brun painted of the doomed queen.
The picture shows Marie Therese Charlotte de France, Madame Royale, and her brother, Louis-Joseph, Le Dauphin, standing. Louis-Joseph died of natural causes early in the year that the revolution began. The next younger child, Louis-Charles, Duc de Normandie, shown on the Queen's lap, then became the second Dauphin. After his father had been guillotined he became known as Louis XVII. This Louis may have been murdered, or may have died of other causes while imprisoned in the temple. In another theory it was thought he
may have survived after being exchanged for another sickly child. In April
2000 it was proved by DNA analysis that the body of a boy found in a temple
was in fact the body of Louis XVII. He died of malnutrition and neglect.
The empty cradle is a reference to Princess
Sophie, who was born and died in 1786.This painting still
hangs at Versailles. View the painting at Versailles. This portrait was displayed in the 2015 Paris Exhibition.
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