The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter
by LEMOINE, Marie-Victoire, Oil on canvas, 117 x 89 cm
This picture is believed to be a painting of �lisabeth Vig�e-Lebrun by Lemoine, who pays homage to her by showing herself as the pupil. Vig�e-Lebrun is shown palette and mahlstick in hand, pausing from work on an Antique-inspired subject, a votary of Athena, goddess of wisdom and patron of the arts, while her pupil makes a copy of it. It can be interpreted as eulogising Vig�e-Lebrun as the original ground-breaker, the high priestess of female artists.
The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1796 in Paris.