Self-Portrait with Straw Hat

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, court painter to Marie Antoinette and one of the most successful artists of the eighteenth century, painted this self-portrait in a straw hat trimmed with a blue ribbon, a rose pinned at her breast. The composition recalls Rubens’s famous portrait of his wife and advertises the artist’s own charm as well as her skill. The painting’s air of unforced naturalness made it a defining image of the artist and an icon of Rococo portraiture.