In a complete 180 from the spiritual contemplation of our last episode, today we’re looking at the portrait of Jeanne Bécu, who became Madame du Barry, the last mistress of Louis XV of France. She lived and loved (a lot!) in the days before the French Revolution. We’ll find out her fate along with that of her portraitist, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. I’ll give you a hint–only one of them survives!
Here’s the portrait of Élisabeth with her daughter I mention.
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SHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT)
“A Long Look” theme is “Ascension” by Ron Gelinas
Episode theme is “String Quartet no. 3, Op. 136” composed by Benjamin Godard, performed by Steve’s Bedroom Band. Courtesy of musopen.org
Madame du Barry information
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun information
Memoirs of Madame Vigée Lebrun
Translated by Lionel Strachey Published by Doubleday, Page, & Company 1903. Free epub available at Google Books
Wikipedia entry on Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
Grove Art Online (for DC library card holders):
Liechtenstein painting information
National Gallery copyist program information
