The Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun

Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

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• Publié par: epsui
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 45
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun, by Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun Author: Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun Translator: Lionel Strachey Release Date: April 10, 2010 [EBook #31934] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMOIRS OF MADAME VIGÉE LEBRUN *** Produced by Adam Buchbinder and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun Uniform with this volume: MEMOIRS OF COUNTESS POTOCKA Illustrated. Translated by Lionel Strachey MEMOIRS OF A CONTEMPORARY Illustrated. Translated by Lionel Strachey MME. VIGÉE LEBRUN AND HER DAUGHTER. Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun Translated by Lionel Strachey With Numerous Reproductions of Paintings by the Authoress London Grant Richards 1904 Copyright, 1903, by Doubleday, Page & Company Printed by Manhattan Press New York. N. Y., U. S. A. PREFATORY NOTE Madame Lebrun brought out her Memoirs at the suggestion of her friend, the Princess Dolgoruki, in 1835. The authoress was born in 1756, at Paris, where she died in 1842. She was the daughter of Louis Vigée, an obscure portrait painter. Her baptismal name was Marie Louise Elisabeth. In 1776 Mademoiselle Vigée was married to Jean Baptiste Pierre Lebrun, a notable picture dealer and critic, known also to his contemporaries as an inveterate gambler. This book forms a rendering of Madame Carette's edition of the Lebrun Memoirs, slightly abridged for the sake of uniformity with the "Memoirs of the Countess Potocka" and the "Memoirs of a Contemporary," issuing from the same hands as the present volume. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. YOUTH. PRECOCIOUS TALENTS MANIFESTED — MLLE. VIGÉE'S FATHER AND MOTHER — DEATH OF HER FATHER — A FRIEND OF HER GIRLHOOD — H MOTHER REMARRIES — MLLE. VIGÉE'S FIRST ER PORTRAIT OF N OTE (C OUNT SCHOUVALOFF) — A CQUAINTANCE WITH M . GEOFFRIN — T ME HE AUTHORESS'S PURITANICAL B RINGING-UP — M ALE S ITTERS A TTEMPT F LIRTATION — P UBLIC RESORTS OF PARIS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION PAGE 3 CHAPTER II. UP THE LADDER OF FAME. TEDIOUS SOJOURN IN THE COUNTRY — SOCIAL AMENITIES IN PARIS — MLLE. VIGÉE BECOMES MME. LEBRUN — PROGNOSTICATIONS OF UNHAPPY WEDLOCK — ON THE LADDER OF FAME — SINGULARITIES OF ORIENTAL TASTE — MARIE ANTOINETTE AS A MODEL — PAINTING THE ROYAL FAMILY — HOW LOUIS XVIII. SANG — THE PRINCESS DE LAMBALLE 16 CHAPTER III. W ORK AND PLEASURE. IMPRESSIONS OF FLANDERS — THE AUTHORESS'S ELECTION TO THE FRENCH ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING — H D ER EVOTION TO W ORK — S OCIAL PLEASURES — A ALE OF AN A T RTIST'S EXTRAVAGANCE — C ALONNE AND CALUMNY — M. EBRUN A L LLOWS H W IS IFE N AUGHT P ER CENT. OF H EARNINGS — A RAMATIC C ER D ONSTELLATION — HE NCOMPARABLE M . T I ME DUGAZON 32 CHAPTER IV. EXILE. A GALLIC MAECENAS — ANECDOTE CONCERNING BEAUMARCHAIS — THE DUKE DE NIVERNAIS — MME. D B U ARRY S KETCHED IN W ORDS — AD P N AINTED IN OILS — R UMBLINGS OF THE REVOLUTION — MME. LEBRUN'S FEARSOME JOURNEY TO ITALY — RENEWED ARTISTIC ACTIVITY A T ROME — E ASTER S UNDAY AT S . P T ETER'S — F ASCINATION OF THE E TERNAL CITY — VANITIES AND VIOLENCES OF ITS PEOPLE 47 CHAPTER V. NEAPOLITAN DAYS. NAPLES — A S LEEPY AMBASSADRESS — THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF LADY HAMILTON — BEING THE STORY OF A FRIVOLOUS FLIRT FOND OF BEER — MORE ROYAL MODELS — EXCURSIONS TO POSILIPPO — MLLE. LEBRUN WRITES A NOVEL AT THE AGE OF NINE — THE QUEEN OF NAPLES SITS TO THE AUTHORESS — THE WEDDING OF THE DOGE OF VENICE WITH THE SEA 63 CHAPTER VI. TURIN AND VIENNA. AQ UEEN W R HO EFUSED TO B P E AINTED — A OUR-COURSE D F INNER OF F ROGS, FROGS, FROGS AND FROGS — VILLEGGIATURA — FRENCH REFUGEES AT TURIN — THEIR HEARTRENDING PLIGHT — VIENNA — NEWS OF THE "AWFUL MURDER" OF LOUIS XVI. AND MARIE ANTOINETTE — BAREFOOT PRINCESS LICHTENSTEIN — INDUCEMENTS TO VISIT RUSSIA — JOURNEY THITHER VIA DRESDEN — THE SISTINE MADONNA 74 CHAPTER VII. SAINT PETERSBURG. ARRIVAL AT ST. PETERSBURG — THE BEAUTIFUL GRANDDUCHESS ELISABETH — C ATHERINE II. RECEIVES MME. LEBRUN — AND IS MOST GRACIOUS — PETTY COURT INTRIGUES — A VISIT TO COUNT STROGONOFF — H OSPITALITY OF THE RUSSIANS — A AMBASSADOR AS GARDENER — N PRINCESS DOLGORUKI AND HER HIDEOUS ADMIRER — THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF POTEMKIN — HIS END 83 CHAPTER VIII. LIFE IN RUSSIA. PAINTING R USSIAN R OYALTIES — FSTIVITIES AT C E OURT — TE P H ANGS OF WAITING FOR DINNER — "T K O EEP W , S ARM PEND THE W INTER IN RUSSIA" — T H HE ARDINESS OF TS I COMMON PEOPLE — WHO ARE WELL SUITED WITH SERFDOM — AND REMARKABLY HONEST — THE QUAINT CEREMONIAL OF BLESSING THE NEVA — VARIOUS SOCIAL CUSTOMS 96 CHAPTER IX. CATHERINE II. SURROUNDINGS OF ST. PETERSBURG — P ATRIARCHAL UNCONVENTIONALITIES — A ARTILLERY N REPAST — THE GREATNESS OF THE SECOND CATHERINE — WHO LIT HER OWN FIRE AND MADE HER O COFFEE — A W S WN ND AS WORN AT BY A C HIMNEY S WEEPER — O THER D OMESTIC AMENITIES IN THE CAREER OF AN EMPRESS — T SUIT OF GUSTAVUS HE IV. — C ATHERINE'S DEATH — HUMILIATING FUNERAL INCIDENTS 109 CHAPTER X. THE EMPEROR PAUL. ACCESSION OF THE EMPEROR PAUL — HIS ARBITRARY RULE — HIS CIVILITY TO THE AUTHORESS — A MAN WHO DID NOT KNOW THE EMPEROR'S ADDRESS — PAUL'S KINDNESS TO FOREIGNERS — H FEAR OF ASSASSINATION — H PERSONAL APPEARANCE — T EMPRESS MARIA — IS IS HE VAGARIES OF A HALF-MAD EMPEROR — A NOBLE PRELATE 119 CHAPTER XI. FAMILY AFFAIRS. PONIATOWSKI, L AST K OF P ING OLAND — H A IS MIABLE C HARACTER — TE H AUTHORESS'S FACULTY OF PRESAGING DEATH — PONIATOWSKI THE NEPHEW — MME. LEBRUN RECEIVED AS A MEMBER OF THE S . P T ETERSBURG ACADEMY — H D ER AUGHTER'S U NTOWARD M ARRIAGE — RESULTING IN ESTRANGEMENT BETWEEN MOTHER AND CHILD 131 CHAPTER XII. MOSCOW. JOURNEY TO MOSCOW — A B SMELL AND ITS ORIGIN — FIRST IMPRESSION OF MOSCOW — AD ANOTHER IMPRESSION, ORAL AND UNPLEASING — THE KREMLIN — STEAM-AND-SNOW BATHING — S OCIETY — L UXURIOUS P RINCE KURAKIN — A I POSSIBLE DUOLOGUE — E N M XAMPLES OF