Adelaide Labille-Guiard

This book features a fascinating exploration of the life and works of one of Revolutionary France's most significant female artists. Adelaide Labille-Guiard (1749-1803) was a remarkable portraitist and painter, she was also one of the very few women ever granted membership to the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. So highly regarded was she that her work was sought out by such diverse figures as the aunts of Louis XVI and the future American President Thomas Jefferson. Yet, unlike her contemporary and fellow Academy member, Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Le Brun, Labille-Guiard remained in France during the Revolution and participated in the reinvention of the country, its art, and its women. Tracing the fascinating story of her rise and fall in the context of her tumultuous times, this superbly illustrated volume fills a major gap in the exploration of art during the French Revolution.