Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun

This vivid autobiography recounts the extraordinary life of Elisabeth Vigee Lebrun (1756-1842), one of the finest painters of eighteenth-century France.Esteemed by painters at home and abroad, Vigee Lebrun was one of the few women admitted to the French Academy at a time when a career as an artist was all but restricted to men. This honor catapulted her into contact with both high society and the greatest artists and writers of the day. Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, Benjamin Franklin, and Lord Byron were only a few of her vast and prestigious clientele. While describing her life as an artist, Vigee Lebrun also provides an exciting account of the dramatic events of her day, particularly the French Revolution and the Terror, from which she barely escaped.