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Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This signed portrait reinterprets a well-known pastel by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour of the important French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the younger (1704–1778). The sculptor, seen toward the end of his life, appears in working garb. His close-cropped grey hair, frank, observant stare, and bemused smile all demonstrate the closeness of the young painter to the elder sculptor. The work also speaks to Vigée-LeBrun’s interest in naturalistic portraiture (as opposed to her more formal, commissioned portraits), and—in the handling of the paint as well as her source image—her debt to pastel painting, her original medium.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit linePortrait of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger, 1774. Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun (French, 1755–1842). Oil on canvas; framed: 58.6 x 51.9 x 5.7 cm (23 1/16 x 20 7/16 x 2 1/4 in.); unframed: 37.4 x 44.1 cm (14 3/4 x 17 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Dr. Paul J. Vignos Jr., 2011.49
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