Self Portrait in a straw hat c1787

Seeing as I seem to be drawn to the French 1790s styles I decided to go the whole hog and  look at one of the best known French portraitists of the period. This was meant to be a record of making an illustration but again the research has taken over......
 Louise Elisabeth Vigee LeBrun was a popular society artist, born  in Paris, 1755, (married Lebrun 1776, died 30 March 1842), daughter to a  portraitist.  She  had begun painting portraits professionally in her teens and  was well enough known to be invited to Versailles to paint Marie Antoinette in 1778. This was so well received that over the next 6 years she made many portraits of the Queen and her family.
She was living and working Paris during the beginning of the Revolution, but fled to Italy with her daughter.
 She was listed as a counter revolutionary and could not return, so travelled to the courts in Austria and Russia, supporting herself and daughter by her painting. When permitted she returned to France  and continued to work, although never as popular as earlier. For details of her life, picture galleries and memoirs, try http://www.batguano.com/vigee.html

Marie Antoinette, 1783

 

The style of her work is rococo, theatrical, flamboyant, light. There is often an invisible breeze lifting ribbons, moving lace and the whole is full of curving lines and implied movement. Compare with the hard eyed studies from Ingres or David, her work has a charm and intimacy. David was the artist of the revolutionaries, being involved in all sorts of ways, even designing  new egalitarian dress for the new era ( never caught on). Vigee LeBrun is always associated with the old regime, especially Marie Antoinette, not wise in 1790s France.  She painted the infamous portrait of Marie Antoinette in her chemise de la Reine that caused such an uproar when exhibited in Paris. ( considered an insult to moral decency, a mockery by a wasteful figurehead - the queen in her underwear!) The Fashion Historian's blog on this is well worth a read - http://www.thefashionhistorian.com/2012/03/chemise-la-reine.html

Looking at the catalogue of her paintings from this time the transition of ideas from the formalised regime to the newer, less rigid ideas of society are apparent. Poses and attitudes relax, clothing changes - look at the two portraits of Marie Antoinette- so do the settings. In 1779 the background is  full of heavy grandeur, of luxury, in 1783 it is roses, still full of symbolism, but without the weight, she is presented as a single individual not as a representative of the ruling class.
 

Vigee LeBrun's memoirs are full of anecdotes of her wealthy clientele, and  names  and events familiar to anyone who has studied the era or even watched the "Scarlet Pimpernel".

 

Of her  impressions of the Queen -

"It was in the year 1779 that I painted the Queen for the first time; she was then in the heyday of her youth and beauty. Marie Antoinette was tall and admirably built, being somewhat stout, but not excessively so. Her arms were superb, her hands small and perfectly formed, and her feet charming....To any one who has not seen the Queen it is difficult to get an idea of all the graces and all the nobility combined in her person. Her features were not regular; she had inherited that long and narrow oval peculiar to the Austrian nation. Her eyes were not large; in colour they were almost blue, and they were at the same time merry and kind. Her nose was slender and pretty, and her mouth not too large, though her lips were rather thick. But the most remarkable thing about her face was the splendour of her complexion. I never have seen one so brilliant, and brilliant is the word, for her skin was so transparent that it bore no umber in the painting. Neither could I render the real effect of it as I wished. I had no colours to paint such freshness, such delicate tints, which were hers alone, and which I had never seen in any other woman." 

 

No wonder she was asked to do many formal and informal portraits of the Queen and the royal family.

Of the Revolution, only 10 years later -the account of the Terror is without sentiment but conveys the growing tensions and fears, some direct some more insidious. I regret not being able to read them in the original

 

 

self portrait 1791

"At the same time I refused to paint Mlle. de Laborde (afterward Duchess de Noailles)....but it was no longer a question of success or money – it was only a question of saving one's head. I had my carriage loaded, and my passport ready, so that I might leave next day with my daughter and her governess, when a crowd of national guardsmen burst into my room with their muskets. Most of them were drunk and shabby, and had terrible faces. A few of them came up to me and told me in the coarsest language that I must not go, but that I must remain. I answered that since everybody had been called upon to enjoy his liberty, I intended to make use of mine. They would barely listen to me, and kept on repeating, "You will not go, citizeness; you will not go!" Finally they went away. I was plunged into a state of cruel anxiety when I saw two of them return. But they did not frighten me, although they belonged to the gang, so quickly did I recognise that they wished me no harm. "Madame," said one of them, "we are your neighbours, and we have come to advise you to leave, and as soon as possible. You cannot live here; you are changed so much that we feel sorry for you. But do not go in your carriage: go in the stage-coach; it is much safer." I thanked them with all my heart, and followed their good advice..."

 

 The Memoirs of Madame Vigée LeBrun
Translated by Lionel Strachey 1903

 

There is so much in these memoirs, the description of Mme Du Barry  and  her execution, of the horrors, but also of the societies in several major cities in Europe. Her account of  Napoleonic Paris is scanty, with  rather sniffy anecdotes about painting the Emperor's sister and visiting her painting of the royal family painting at Versailles -  the return of the Bourbons seemed to be much more to her taste.

Her work is very skilful but also very mannered, there seems to be a set list of poses, backgrounds and expressions, but Vigee LeBrun was a breaker of rules in her time, opening the mouth in a smile caused an uproar, yet this doesn't come across today. The research has helped to clarify and give insight, but the over riding impression I have is of her, she comes across as a bold and dynamic personality.



sketch to blocking face and tone on jacket

adding colour and building the background

My research was for a purpose - I set out to copy something of the style and pose to illustrate Gwen's new 1790 French jacket.
The self portrait above was painted  soon after the flight from Paris in 1791. She is sat at an easel poised mid painting, possibly this is the one where "No sooner had I arrived at Rome than I did a portrait of myself for the Florence gallery. I painted myself palette in hand before a canvas on which I was tracing a figure of the Queen in white crayon. "  (It does look more like a paintbrush though). She did not miss a trick, reminding a new clientele of her status as well as perhaps a tribute to Marie Antoinette whose execution she had heard of during her own escape. Vigee LeBrun is partly turned towards us, with a half smile, looking directly at the viewer. The clothing is sombre and formal but there is still that quality of movement, of  something about to be said.  These images show the evolution of my study based on the self portrait. Just to make life awkward it is in pastel...

 

 The major difficulties were trying to keep the lightness in the skin tone and working the details. I am clumsy when blending and tend to rubout the good bit while leaving the problem part behind.

balancing and adding tone and detail. close up - really should work larger.

 

Finished article - although there are still areas I would like to improve -  really must work larger or buy thinner pastels and create more pointed blending tools - rag and cottonbuds just won't do!





 

 

 

 

 

white pelisse

Of  lovely April days, invasion of cat,  white pelisse, and other many distractions. This is the blog as it was meant to be!

Last week-

The making of the white pelisse-

The sun has shone, the grass and weeds are happy. The bees buzz, there are butterflies, the garden is in its purple Spring phase.  I might have been distracted from costuming but I have been refining copies and interpretations of fashion plates to show the latest additions to Gwendoline's wardrobe as well as constructing 18^th Century items for myself, so it has been busy.

I decided to use a clingfilm  base and made Gwendoline a masking tape shell. This was sectioned into pattern parts and then cut and flattened to create templates- and it worked! There is very little gaping, or bowing, or pinching – all without any fiddling, adjusting or cheating in any way. Umm, wow. Don't worry, it won't last.

This of course has lead to unwise decisions, there is no point having patterns that will only fit once, I wanted to find out how flexible this approach would  let me be – 1820s shapes- lower waist, broader shoulders, exaggerated sleeves and decoration. The fabric is curtain offcuts – trying to look like a heavy weave cotton or linen but I'm thinking that the closest this has come to nature was being sat on by an invading cat. ( I yelled, it went from snooze to panic in one move, did a complete circuit of the kitchen tops and windowsills at full pelt before escaping out the backdoor, fled through the hedge and off down the road.... leaving me with hairy fabric and chaos!)

 One idea arising from the gingham frock (last week) was using the smocking as a substitute/sculptural form of gathering, so set out to try a Juliet style sleeve with the repeated gathered bands down the arm. I also wanted to do more with pleating on the bodice. Even my favourite pelisse has gathers above and below the waistline. This fabric is quite stiff, it will bend and flex but goes clumpy and lumpy on curves and bulks up very quickly. The pleats in the back look good but have left the waist heavy, a wider waistband than originally planned might be needed or else the waistline is going to end up the thickest part of the whole garment!

last week's progress

Having faith in the pattern pieces makes such a difference – and saved so much time. No repeat fittings, unpicking and realigning. Getting from 'what shall I do now?' to having a believable bodice took less than an hour. The smocking took about the same. If I had a brain I would have done the smocking before making up and attaching the sleeve. But the sleeve was a bit of a guess, I knew I wanted more fullness at the back rather than the front, and that Pingu arms must be avoided. So I began with a basic gathered sleeve shape and made the curve at the top steeper and off centre . It did take some minor fiddling as the fabric protested about curves but it sits reasonably well, although many sins may be lost in the puffiness. And of course the piece I cut as a pattern is now firmly attached !.

 

This week-

Overall the pelisse has worked quite well- the good times did not last  The collar was a problem, it still tries to stick straight out rather than relaxing on the shoulder. Repeated washing did not help it, the fabric has a great deal of 'boing' - it tries to reset itself to flat each time. The radial  pin tucks have helped  a little and something to experiment with later on. Fears about the waist at the back were well founded, it is thick and seriously needs stiffening. Perhaps come at it from the end - put a bow on the  waistband cb so the bulk becomes deliberate ( see little blue example above).
  I do wish this stuff would make its mind up - it bends when I don't want it to and is too stiff when I want it to bend.

 As a relatively plain pelisse it is fine, the gathers in the sleeves give it more character and style. The gathering on the centre back  should perhaps only be attempted with finer cloth. Poor Gwen does not look terribly happy it. It does nothing for her figure - the extra bulk on the waist is not good , there is nothing voluptuous or even jelly-on-a-plate-ish about her to give definition, she ends up looking like a tree trunk. In the plates above, the waist is so narrow in comparison to the shoulder/ sleeve line, and  Gwen goes in just a little and out not a lot. I do wonder about making her a set of stays /padded bodice-  can't pull her in but might be able to push her out. ( I'm sure I thought this before sometime - a little set of transitions with bust enhancer?)

One moment - repeated washing?  Knowing how much I enjoy domestic chores  you will have realised this had to be an emergency. Well, first the 'sharps' needle I was using was very sharp and I hadn't noticed, second time was due to creating drawings in pastels. The washing has caused problems, now the lining is not happy at the armhole, causing the wrinkling seen above, a bit of unpick and pull  will hopefully sort it but this garment will remain untouched until the pastel phase ends.

Distractions-
1. Pastels- not a medium I usually use but... apart from the dust .....they are quite fun.

2. The fake book. - it started with a charming photo posted on facebook from the Australian Jane Austen Festival in Canberra.  In the general flow of very learned conversation we decided the photo looked like a book cover, couldn't resist it, and....  Last time I caught up it was either Mr D would emerge a la wet shirt, or she had  just shoved him in.  The drawing took  over a morning and then working out the editing  programme took about the same. (Gimp2 - a free download, complex but very good)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Gave up putting it off and set up a website- AARGH.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/franbrammer/home‎

View shared post

  Pastels were easy, Gimp is straightforward. If I had known how to do this it would have been simple! Used Google sites, free, supposed to be an easy site builder, self hosting, and well I'm googled for almost everything else. Looking back, once the mind shift was made, it was straightforward enough.  Over riding the templates was the most frustrating thing - typing in black, size 12 in default font to find it published in blue, boxed in a corner and.......

Hopefully all sorted, hopefully,.... Feeling very exposed at the present.  Be warned - will have to start experimenting with promoting it next....

 

 

And totally recommend

BBCs   "At Home With The Georgians: A Man's Place. 

So much more than important people and oh look at the houses. Well done to Amanda Vickery.

A little sewing, alot of pastels.

So this is not the post I was hoping for - that was even drafted and photos done.... and then.... distraction struck with a vengeance. Here are some tasters/teases for the real blog, construction, more smocking, fashion plate......

 but this is the one you are getting.
Let me explain - Started the new idea on Friday, tried a new way of drafting the pattern - worked well. Using up some fabric stash- brilliant. Went together sweetly, even embellished according to plan. Suspicious? So was I. Only things left to do are finishing the lining, applying the fake waistband (cut, pressed and ready) and fastenings ( set out and waiting). This was obviously too much to cope with. It felt like being a real costumer - even had a cat invade and sleep on the spare fabric. So of course got distracted, by a nose.
 It was too long, like a beak,  it was looking at me, and had been looking at me for most of the week. While the kettle boiled it could be sorted - that was breakfast - it is now lunch. Sorted that nose, done another and sorted that too.
So I'm always doing painting and drawing along side the sewing but this was a pastel work. For anyone who hasn't used chalk/soft pastels they are a rare species of demonic life form. Never get the exact colour, or marks in the right place, and  they conspire and giggle in the box just waiting their chance. Not too bad, until you realise the amount of coloured dust they spread happily over everything, the cutting/work table, the floor, me. It isn't just any old dust, this is friendly dust, wanting to get really close and stay with you for life.  Not the place for a plain white anything. I am actually going to have to WASH UP to get it  off my fingers. This is traumatic.
The new garment is on hold until the table is wiped down and dried, everywhere hoovered  and clean.

What I will share with you is the cause of all the trouble-  a study by Adolph van Menzel.

von Menzel

Watteau

 It has the same informal charm as the Watteau studies and is an unusual, beautifully lit  pose. I can't decide if she is being coy or looking for goldfish.
After a couple of pencil tries out came the evil pastels and battle commenced. They are actually quite fun to work with  and working on a coloured ground was a change - the colours are bolder, the paler tones are more vibrant, but they mix in unexpected ways, sometimes clear layers, sometimes muddy, chalky and opaque.

initial working

Having got this to a reasonable place it was pinned to wall (gently shedding dust) for a few days so that I could evaluate it and plan the next stages. It really was the nose, and elbow, and claw hand, and skirt detail.
It was going to be a quick amendment, no fuss, no mess, no trauma. It was. And then the 'should I do a background to balance the composition?' decision. And then came the 'while the pastels are out....' moment.

The Yellow Dress.

  The dress is the yellow gingham made and posted about last week. I haven't tried to  be pedantic about the gingham pattern, focussing more on the shapes and fall of the skirt. This is a very different outcome to the 1824 fashion plate pose done to previously. I  like the idea of presenting my Regency creations in as Regency a way as I can but I do like the  substance of this- is does make the fashion plate look over precious (but in an entirely charming way. Of course).





The second image is  based on the Scarf/shawl dress from the week before and is the development from the "Regency Wedgie" pose as discussed on facebook and pinterest. It was too good a thing to pass up so I had added a quick sketch to the mix and this grew out of that.. After so many still poses this was meant to be dancing ( just about turned into the 1960s/70s flamenco pose) and she is holding her  over dress rather than adjusting the underwear!

shawl dress with initial illustrations

 

They have turned out better than I expected, the shawl dress needs more attention, but pastels allow for a combination of approaches - the directness of pencil mark making and line, and then the more painterly handling of surface and colour. They have made me work larger, more quickly and to be bold in the use of  the limited choice of colours that I had, forcing me to be more experimental with  mixing and contrasts. The coloured paper puts more emphasis on working with light,  which I have probably enjoyed just a little too much. The water colours are still the choice medium, there is so much still to develop there. ( They look better in the flesh - more subtle, and softer) but these have been fun! And messy! And now to clean up....... or should I have a go at the dancer first...to save cleaning up twice...... how about the far shoulder of the yellow dress- should be puffier.....
It will be tea time soon.