Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, Essay Example

The formal elements of Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun’s portrait of Marie-Antoinette and her children work together to create an image of the Queen that is soft, nurturing, and nonthreatening. The spatial relationship between Marie-Antoinette and her children presents them as a united front, drawn together in familial closeness.  The deceased infant is included in this portrait by the positioning of its bassinet with the young boy standing beside it.  The spatial relationship between mother and daughter is especially notable as the girl clings to her mother’s arm and looks up adoringly at the Queen.  The arrangement of the family is such that the eye is initially drawn to the Queen, who dominates the portrait because she takes up the most space in the canvas.

Light and shadow is also used to effectively portray the Queen as one who is beatific, almost Madonna-like.  This gives the painting religious undertones and emphasizes Marie-Antoinette’s nurturing, maternal qualities.  In her essay “Advice on the Painting of Portraits,” the artist herself writes that “shadow must be strong but transparent at the same time” (Vigee Le Brun, n.d.), demonstrating an awareness that shadow can be used to emphasize facial features in order to give the subject the appearance of life.  The contrast between the warm, glowing tones and the stark shadow also gives Marie Antoinette an element of solemnity, perhaps again emphasizing the recent loss of the youngest child.  The artist also uses a muted palette of colors in which a rich burgundy is dominant.  This complements the gold undertones and is suggestive of wealth and success without being ostentatious or too opulent.  Overall, the formal elements of the portrait suggest a family subdued by a recent death, and depicts Marie-Antoinette as a strong yet not overbearing woman devoted to her children.