Love reading original letters, a bit dry but interesting to get to know the person. She was a name dropper and seemed to sponge off many friends (maybe that wasn't unusual in that time or because she was a woman alone). She loved her daughter to a fault, she didn't seem to be a kind person (daughter) and married against her mother's wishes and Mama turned out be right. Authentic and got to understand the restrictions on women but she seemed to dismiss some of the restraints because she had a daughter to raise and an absent husband.

Not being knowledgeable about painters, I admit to not having heard of Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun before reading this, so didn’t no what to expect from her memoirs.

I hoped for some insights to the times she lived in, which is exactly what I got. In fact, I got more than expected, as not only did she paint many royals and nobles, they treated her with great respect. Madame Vigée-Le Brun was a celebrity in her time.

When she described some of her paintings of Marie Antoinette, I at once recognised them from pictures I’ve seen online.

She offers glimpses of history that I haven’t previously read or heard of, including instances of Marie Antoinette, Catherine II of Russia, and Napoleon.

Madame Vigée-Le Brun made a good impression on me. I like her personality and subtle sense of humour.

This is one of several memoirs I’ve now read by French ladies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and one thing they all have in common is the gift of eloquent and engaging writing. They have the ability to make trivial matters sound interesting. ( )

Saggio. Figura umana. Ritratti