Vigée Le Brun's 'Self Portrait in a Straw Hat' : A Longer Look

Fascinating morning at the National Gallery looking in detail at Vigee Le Brun’s “Self-portrait in a Straw Hat”.

Unfortunately the morning was slightly disrupted by the lack of IT but the course leader Jacqui Ansell managed brilliantly and we spent more time than planned in the galleries themselves.

We started by looking at earlier representations of women in the gallery particularly Ruben’s picture of a women in a Black Hat which influences the Le Brun picture. We also looked at another work by a women, Judith Leyster’s picture of two children, thinking about why there are so few pictures by women artists in the collection.

In the second half we sat with the self-portrait itself and talked about Le Brun’s life and why she had chosen to paint herself in this way. We looked at what she was wearing and why and how her travelling following the French Revolution enhanced her career and reputation.

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