Vigee Le Brun: Self Portrait in a Straw Hat

This beautifully illustrated book in the National Gallery's new One Painting, One Story series explores the making and meaning of Vigee Le Brun's Self Portrait in a Straw Hat.

The 1782 work Self Portrait in a Straw Hat by Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun (1755-1842) is one of the National Gallery's most captivating paintings. Looking at us directly and holding the tools of her profession, the painter presents herself as an elegant society lady as well as an accomplished professional artist. The pose was modelled on Rubens's Portrait of Susanna Lunden (?), with whom Vigee Le Brun was making an explicit connection.

Vigee Le Brun's life spanned a tumultuous period of French history. Lucy Davies examines the artist's rise to become one of the most successful society portraitists of her age, patronised by Queen Marie-Antoinette. After fleeing the French Revolution in 1789, Vigee Le Brun travelled around Europe and Russia, eventually returning to a transformed Paris.