Pictures of the Month | June 2009
Picture of the Month
June 2009
Countess Golovine
[1797-1800, oil on canvas]
by Marie Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun
(1755-1842)
Vivacious, beautiful and intelligent — the sitter depicted in this breath-taking portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842) captivates visitors to the Barber Institute. The confident, teasing gaze shining from the canvas seems to embody a living, breathing presence whenever approached. Despite the understated setting, the gold-embroidered red shawl graciously tossed over her shoulder and the silken headdress entwined within luscious locks of tumbling hair, attest to the sitter’s wealth and status. This theatrical attire is in keeping with the elaborate antique-style costumes in which Vigée-Lebrun frequently depicted her sitters, yet the natural spontaneity captured here infuses the portrait with a charming informality. The dual effect of this richly luxurious garb and an apparently warm persona makes this image both iconic and inviting — revealing the combination of Neo-classical monumentality and Rococo frivolity that characterises the artist’s work.
Vigée-Lebrun was one of the leading portraitists and the most famous female artist of eighteenth-century France. Showing a precocious talent for art, by the age of fourteen she was practising professionally, had established herself as a highly esteemed portraitist by the 1770s, and was accepted into the prestigious male-dominated Académie Royale in 1783. A staunch royalist, Vigée-Lebrun was closely associated with the taste and ideology of the ancien régime. In 1778 she was appointed official painter to the ill-fated Queen Marie-Antoinette, remaining loyal to the monarchy throughout the dangerous years of the Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. She worked and lived among the highest-ranking aristocratic elite in Europe all her life.
Falling victim to scandalous rumours and fearful for her safety, Vigée-Lebrun fled France following the bloody revolutionary uprisings of 1789 — like many of her wealthy, titled contemporaries. Despite travelling in exile for twelve years, she was welcomed into the most rarified social circles and continued her career successfully, painting portraits for noble and royal sitters in Italy, Austria, Germany and elsewhere.
Dating from c.1797-1800, the Barber’s portrait originates from her period in Russia (1795-1801). In St Petersburg, Vigée-Lebrun befriended the handsome Count Nicholas Nikolaevitch Golovine and his wife Varvara (1766-1821) — the subject of this portrait. She describes the countess as ‘a charming woman whose wit and talents kept us amused, for she received few visitors’. The two women indeed had much in common, the countess being a keen musician, painter and reader and also the victim of vicious gossip that had caused her to leave Moscow in 1796.
Fresh, intimate and sensually engaging — while the countess, unabashed, holds our gaze, her expression and pose simultaneously suggest that there is much behind her surface appearance that will remain undiscovered by her viewers. Possibly reflecting all that is best about the Barber — symbolizing the beauty, charm, quality and elegance of the gallery and collection itself — Countess Golovine is an enchanting, enigmatic masterpiece, which, once encountered, will become a dear friend, to whom you will wish to return again and again.
Kathryn Murray, Gallery Assistant
| What is your favourite work of art in the Barber Institute galleries? Drop us a line at info@barber.org.uk and let us know, and we could feature your choice in a future Picture of the Month. |