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Madame de Staël as Corinne at Cape Miseno

Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun French

1807–9

Not on view

In Switzerland, Vigée Le Brun painted Madame de Staël (1766–1817), an influential writer banished from France by Napoleon. The sitter had recently published Corinne, a novel about a woman struggling and failing to achieve creative and romantic independence. Understandably, she disliked this unflattering portrait and had an almost identical but more attractive version painted by another, less important artist.

Madame de Staël as Corinne at Cape Miseno, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris), Oil on canvas — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Madame de Staël as Corinne at Cape Miseno

Artist: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)

Date: 1807–9

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 55 1/8 × 46 1/2 in. (140 × 118 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de la Ville de Genève, Gift of Madame Necker-de-Saussure, 1841 (1841-0003)

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