Volume 37, Number 2 · February 15, 1990
Working Girl
By Richard Dorment
Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun
translated by Lionel Strachey, with an introduction by John Russell
George Braziller, 233 pp., $12.95 (paper)
The Memoirs of Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun
translated by Siân Evans
Indiana University Press, 368 pp., $35.00
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun wrote the story of her extraordinary life in the 1830s, when she was more than eighty years old, in part to shake off calumnies which had clung to her name since the days of her opposition to the French Revolution, and in part for the pleasure of looking back. In her youth and long working life, she knew and painted some of the most interesting men and women of her time. The old lady set out to describe a past that was to her as clear in focus and as bright in color as one of her own paintings.
Review, 2617 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |