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Julie Le Brun as Flora
Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun French
Not on view
The successive portraits of Vigée Le Brun’s daughter Julie (1780–1819) are milestones in the history of a passionate, conflicted mother-daughter relationship. In the present work, Julie is depicted as Flora, the goddess of flowers who gives birth to spring. She is exposed to the whims of Zephyr, the wind god who wed Flora and swept her away. As if fulfilling a prophecy, Julie soon married against her mother’s wishes and the two parted.
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