INTERVIEW - Virginie Girod receives Cécile Berly, historian specializing in the 18th century, author in particular of "Lightness and gravity: a history of the 18th century in paintings" (Editions Passés Composés), to take an interest in Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, "the one of the greatest geniuses of painting" of his time. Based in Versailles, close to the Queen, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun made many self-portraits with her daughter Julie, evoking motherhood, "a fairly innovative subject because it is not religious, because it is not not biblical". Why did his paintings of Marie Antoinette also create "a revolution before the Revolution"? And how does the artist act "as a woman of the Enlightenment even if she is a royalist and ultra-conservative"?

2022-10-14T04:07:35.544Z

INTERVIEW - Virginie Girod receives Cécile Berly, historian specializing in the 18th century, author in particular of "Lightness and seriousness: a history of the 18th century in paintings" (Editions Passés Composés), to take an interest in Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, "one of the greatest geniuses of painting" of his time. Based in Versailles, close to the Queen, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun made many self-portraits with her daughter Julie, evoking motherhood, "a fairly innovative subject because it is not religious, because it is not is not biblical". Why did his paintings of Marie Antoinette also create "a revolution before the Revolution" ? And how does the artist act " as a woman of the Enlightenment even if she is royalist and ultra-conservative" ?Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun - Versailles - Marie-Antoinette - Revolution - 1789 - painting "At the heart of history" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast.Writing and presentation: Virginie Girod - Production: Adèle Humbert - Artistic direction: Adèle Humbert and Julien Tharaud - Production: Clément Ibrahim - Original music: Julien Tharaud - Additional music: Julien Tharaud and Sébastien Guidis - Communication: Kelly Decroix - Distribution and writing: Eloise Bertil - Visual: Sidonie Mangin