Conditional Acceptance: Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and the Académie Royale

• Main Author: Dunn, Lindsay Meehan
• Other Authors: Marnin Young
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Texas Christian University 2008
• Subjects: College of Fine Arts
• Online Access: http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-05052008-150443/

This thesis discusses the effects of politics and social class on Elisabeth Vigée-Lebruns initial rejection from the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1783. The Académie officially rejected her, because she was married to an art dealer, and therefore, in violation of the statute that forbade academicians to mix in commerce. Art historians, most notably Mary Sheriff, have dismantled this popularly held explanation, instead focusing on the artists gender as the fundamental cause of this event. Yet, the volatile political climate and the overall class consciousness likely played an equally important role. To further illuminate this historic episode, this thesis will discuss the ways in which Vigée-Lebrun presented herself to the French public. It will offer a history of the Académies procedures governing female admission, as well as an account of other female academicians. It will argue that Vigée-Lebruns humble social class alienated her from the noble Académie members and the bourgeois members of society. Finally, this thesis will address the general dislike of Marie-Antoinette during the early 1780s and the ways in which this likely affected Vigée-Lebruns career.