Madame du Barry
Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
1782
Madame du Barry, the last official mistress of King Louis XV, is captured here in all her glamorous, powdered glory by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Notice that shimmering silver silk dress and the towering wig crowned with roses and feathers—it’s peak 18th-century French fashion. What makes this portrait particularly juicy is that Vigée Le Brun was actually the favorite painter of Marie Antoinette, who famously despised du Barry. Painting the royal rival was a bold career move, but the artist’s skillful brushwork and the subject’s charming, rosy-cheeked smile make it impossible to resist.
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