Self-Portrait With Julie (Maternal Tenderness)

''Self-Portrait with Julie (Maternal Tenderness)'' is a 1787 painting by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun depicting the artist tenderly embracing her daughter. It is now in the collection of the Louvre. Created just before the French Revolution, it embodies Enlightenment ideals of maternal affection and departs from conventional aristocratic portraiture through its natural warmth, minimal background, and intimate pose. It is widely praised for its emotional sincerity and has since been recognized for influencing Romantic-era portraiture. The painting underscores Vigée Le Brun’s prominence as a leading female artist, blending neoclassical technique with heartfelt sentiment in a way that broke new ground for her time.

Background

The work is a self-portrait and portrays the artist embracing her daughter, Jeanne Julie Louise Le Brun. The tender hug is a reflection of the sentimental themes and emotion prevalent in late 18th-century art. Exhibited at the Salon of 1787, the painting gained attention for its naturalism and affection. The painting departed from the formal conventions of neoclassical, aristocratic portraiture, aligning with newly prevalent philosophies of the time, which emphasizes expressing emotions and presenting intimacy freely.

Vigée Le Brun's composition was created shortly before the French Revolution began in 1789, which was a period marked by growing political unrest. At this time, Vigée Le Brun was at the height of her career, working as the official portraitist of Marie Antoinette and a favorite among the French aristocracy. Vigée Le Brun was frequently commissioned to paint Marie Antoinette, producing numerous portraits of the queen and frequently depicted members of the French aristocracy. One of her most significant works, ''Marie Antoinette and Her Children'' (1787), depicts the queen with her three children, reflecting the maternal themes that were central to Vigée Le Brun’s work.

In addition to royal portraiture, Vigée Le Brun often depicted female protagonists in her artwork. Focusing on women in artwork was uncommon for artists of her time. As one of the few prominent female artists of the period, she portrayed women through her art in an elegant and sentimental manner. However, ''Self-Portrait with Julie'' stands out for its personal themes, blending neoclassical ideals with emerging trends of expressive portraiture and emphasizing the virtues of domestic life.

Description

In the painting, Vigée Le Brun depicts herself and her daughter Julie, who appears in a three-quarter profile. The figures are positioned in the immediate foreground. Julie, approximately five or six years old, sits comfortably in her mother’s lap, gazing outward. Vigée Le Brun embraces her daughter firmly while facing the viewer directly, drawing them into the intimacy of the moment. As Joseph Baillio has noted, Vigée Le Brun’s approach in this painting reflects the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in which "a mother might be represented as a Madonna or in a Raphaelesque pose."

Another notable feature of the painting is the smile. Le Brun is smiling with her teeth visible. According to the historian Colin Jones, the display of teeth when smiling was unusual in elite portraiture until this point in history. Improvements in dentistry, Jones suggests, allowed for good teeth to become markers of status.

Additionally, the artist places particular focus on her hands, which grip her daughter tightly, placing an emphasis on the act of embrace and creating a touching portrayal of maternal affection. As a mother herself, Vigée Le Brun was perceived by critics at the time as uniquely able to capture motherhood authentically, portraying maternal tenderness with a genuine sensitivity and depth. This belief in the integration of her personal experience as both mother and painter enhanced the emotional warmth and resonance of the painting for contemporary audiences.

As seen in the painting, Vigée Le Brun's compositions typically featured minimal domestic furnishings and backgrounds that were either dark or neutral in color. Artist Pierre Charles Levesque praised the painting specifically for its naturalness, remarking that its gentle, everyday warmth was the very quality that had made the public admire the work. The simplicity of their clothing reinforces this sense of authenticity and intimacy, as Le Brun intentionally avoided elaborate attire and hairstyles, instead depicting softer, simpler garments. Artistically, the warmth and vibrancy of the painting are further highlighted by Vigée Le Brun’s use of color and painting technique. She applied transparent glazes over the light-toned under layers, endowing the figures with a soft, lifelike glow that conveys the warmth and tenderness of their interaction. The combined effect is one of emotional depth, highlighting both the closeness of their relationship and the artist’s innovative departure from the traditionally rigid and formal portraiture of her time.

Reception and legacy

Contemporary reception

When ''Self-Portrait with Julie (Maternal Tenderness)'' was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1787, it garnered significant praise for its naturalism and emotional sincerity. Critics and viewers were struck by the informal, lifelike warmth of the portrayal. The painter Pierre Charles Levesque singled out Vigée Le Brun’s depiction of herself with her daughter for its truth to nature. He notes that the image shows a "naïveté of nature" reminiscent of Titian and van Dyck’s honest depictions of sitters, contrasting with the more formal, stiffly posed portraits that were typical of the period. Levesque observed that it was precisely this authenticity that made the mother-and-child scene so touching, remarking that the public viewed the painting “with such pleasure” for its truthful, heartfelt emotion.

Later influence

Over time, the reception of ''Self-Portrait with Julie (Maternal Tenderness)'' and Vigée Le Brun’s legacy as an artist have undergone considerable reappraisal. In the decades after its debut, the painting’s significance was largely downplayed by some critics. The 19th-century Goncourt brothers, despite their interest in 18th-century art, devoted only a few lines to Vigée Le Brun’s achievements. Even into the 20th century, certain art historians cast her work in a dismissive light: for example, Michael Levey characterized Vigée Le Brun as merely an ambitious woman leveraging her femininity to gain entry to the Académie Royale, suggesting that she “employ d– if not positively exploit d– her own femininity” with exaggerated effect. Such critiques implied that she was a "woman painter" rather than a "painter who was a woman," reducing her artistic merit to gendered terms. This perspective tended to overlook the historical context in which Vigée Le Brun painted; notably, the late 18th century prized open displays of emotion in art, meaning her sentimental style was very much in step with the taste of her time.

References

1787 paintings
Paintings by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
Portraits of women
Paintings of children
Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

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