VIGEE-LEBRUN, MARIE-ANNE ELISABETH (1755-1842), French painter, was born in Paris on Apr. 16, the daughter of a painter, from whom she received her first in struction, though she benefited more by the advice of Doyen, Greuze, Joseph Vernet and others. When only about 20 years of age she had made her name by her portraits of Count Orloff and the duchess of Orleans, and had become a general favourite in so ciety. In 1776 she married the painter and art-critic J. B. P. Le brun, and in 1783 her picture of "Peace bringing back Abun dance" (now at the Louvre) gained her the membership of the Academy. When the Revolution broke out in 1789 she escaped first to Italy, where she worked at Rome and Naples. At Rome she painted the Princesses Adelaide and Victoria, and at Naples the "Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante" now in the collection of Tankerville Chamberlayne. She then visited Vienna, Berlin and St. Petersburg, returning to Paris in 1802. In April 1802 she went
to London, where she painted Byron and the prince of Wales. She was a great traveller, and her portraits are to be found in the collections of many countries. She died in Paris on Mar. 3o, 1842 at the age of 87, having been widowed for 29 years.
Among her many sitters was Marie Antoinette, of whom she painted over 20 portraits between 1779 and 1789. A portrait of the artist is in the hall of the painters at the Uffizi, and another at the National Gallery. The Louvre owns two portraits of Mme. Lebrun and her daughter, besides five other portraits.
A full account of her eventful life is given in her Souvenirs (1835, 1837) and in C. Pillet's Mme. Vigee-Le Brun (1890). The artist's autobiography has been translated by Lionel Strachey, Memoirs of Mme. Vigee-Lebrun (New York, 19°3), fully illustrated.