The Artist’s Brother
- Date
- 1773
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- European Art to 1800
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 202
- Dimensions
- 24 1/4 x 19 7/8 in. (61.6 x 50.5 cm)
framed: 34 x 29 1/4 x 4 3/8 in. (86.4 x 74.3 x 11.1 cm) - Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 3:1940
NOTES
By posing the boy looking over his shoulder and by angling his hat over his forehead, Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun achives a lovely image of youthful bravado. The portrait -very likely the artist's brother Etienne at the age of fifteen-is probably the one the artist described in her memoirs as "my brother in schoolboy's dress." She alludes to his interest in letters (he later became a celebrated writer) by including a sheaf of papers and a pen. The artist created this portrait when she was only eighteen.
Provenance
Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842), Paris, France
Private Collection, Chateau d'Aignes-Vives, Cher-et-Loire, France, given by the artist [1]
by 1939 - 1940
Wildenstein & Co., Paris, France; New York, NY, USA
1940 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Wildenstein & Co. [2]
Notes:
[1] A letter from the Museum to Wildenstein & Co. dated October 16, 1939, requests that the painting be sent to the Museum so it may be considered for acquisition [SLAM document files]. According to the invoice from Wildenstein & Co. dated January 6, 1940, the painting was given by Vigée Le Brun to the owners of Chateau d'Aignes-Vives in the Cher-et-Loire region of France [SLAM document files].
[2] Per invoice (see note [1]). Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 4, 1940.
Private Collection, Chateau d'Aignes-Vives, Cher-et-Loire, France, given by the artist [1]
by 1939 - 1940
Wildenstein & Co., Paris, France; New York, NY, USA
1940 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Wildenstein & Co. [2]
Notes:
[1] A letter from the Museum to Wildenstein & Co. dated October 16, 1939, requests that the painting be sent to the Museum so it may be considered for acquisition [SLAM document files]. According to the invoice from Wildenstein & Co. dated January 6, 1940, the painting was given by Vigée Le Brun to the owners of Chateau d'Aignes-Vives in the Cher-et-Loire region of France [SLAM document files].
[2] Per invoice (see note [1]). Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, January 4, 1940.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.