Isabella Teotochi Marini

Artist Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun (French, 1755-1842)

Place of OriginVenice, Italy

Date1792

DimensionsPainting: 19 × 13 7/8 in. (48.3 × 35.2 cm)
frame: 25 1/4 × 20 1/8 × 2 1/2 in. (64.1 × 51.1 × 6.4 cm)

MediumOil on paper mounted on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1950.243

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 26, Rotunda

Label TextCourt painter and close friend to French queen Marie-Antoinette, Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun had to escape the imprisonments and beheadings-by-guillotine of the French Revolution in 1789. In 1792, she was in Venice, where she was introduced to Isabella Teotochi Marini (1760–1836), the subject of this portrait. A divorced woman (shocking at the time!) and a celebrated writer, Marini ran a lively literary meeting (salon) that was frequented by English Romantic poet Lord Byron. Vigée-Le Brun also defied societal norms, becoming one of the most successful portraitists in Europe in a male-dominated art world. Vigée-Le Brun’s vibrant portrait is inscribed to Marini’s lover, Dominique Vivant Denon, a scholar, archeologist, and writer. The painting reflects the Neoclassical taste in dress at the time. Marini wears loose curls (rather than a wig, which had been the fashion until recently) and a simple, revealing dress inspired by classical Greek and Roman precedents.Published ReferencesDenon, D. V., L'originale e il riratto, 1st ed., Bassano, 1792, repr. (etching by Denon).

Vigée-Le Brun, L.-E., Souvenirs de Mme. Vigée-Le Brun, Paris (1867), I, pp. 246, 249, II, p. 368.

Malamani, V., Isabella Teotochi-Albrizzi, I suoi amici-il suo tempo, Turin, 1882, p. 20.

Collection Bardini, 1899, pl. 20, no. 355.

Helm, W. H., Vigée-Le Brun, Her Life, Work and Friendships, London, n.d., p. 114, repr. p. 166.

Blum, A., Madame Vigée-Le Brun, Paris, (1919), pp. 61, 101 (as Mme. Marini).

Malamani, V., Canova, Milan, n.d., p. 171.

de Nolhac, P., Madame Vigée-Le Brun, Paris (1912), pp. 176-177.

Illustrated London News, vol. 131, Oct. 18, 1952, p. 637, repr.

Studio, vol. 145, Jan. 1953, p. 19, repr.

Roland, Browse and Delbanco, 1945-1955, London, 1956, p. 18, repr.

"French Art," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 3, no. 4, Autumn 1960, p. 94.

Granica, Spiradon, "Famous Greek Beauties," Nepioaiko Eikonez, April 24, 1964, repr. p. 43.

Albrizzi, A. Rubin de Cevin, "Palazzo Albrizzi," L'Oeil, June 1964, p. 44, fig. 3.

Frégnac, Claude, ed., Great Houses of Italy, New York, 1968, repr. p. 51.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 165, pl. 209.

Museo Correr, Venezia rell' eta di Canova, Venice, 1978, in no. 72.

Sutton, Denys, "Madame Vigée Le Brun: A survivor of the Ancien Régime," Apollo, vol. 116, no. 245, July 1982, p. 30, repr. fig. 9, p. 29.

Baillio, Joseph, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun 1755-1842, Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, 1982, p. 102, repr.

Bordeaux, Jean-Luc, "Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun," Art International, vol. 26, no. 3, July-Aug. 1983, p. 64, repr. (col.) p. 27.

Lelièvre, Pierre, Vivant Denon, homme des lumières, Paris, "Ministre des Arts" de Napoléon, 1993, p. 57, repr.

Rosenberg, Pierre ed., Dominique Vivant Denon: l'oeil de Napoleon, Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999, pp. 12, 92, 103, 447, repr. (col.) p. 31.

Wald Lasowski, Patrick, Louise-Elisabeth Vigee-Le Brun: Souvenirs , Paris, Citadelles & Mazenod, 2015, repr. (col.) pl. 77.

“ Elisabeth Louise Vigee le Brun: au Grand Palais,” Connaissance des Arts, H.S. No. 686, 2015, repr. (col.) p. 64.

Baillio, Joseph, and Xavier Salmon, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais, 2015, no. 100, p. 234, repr. (col.) p. 235.

Baillio, Joseph, Katherine Baetjer, and Paul Lang, Vigee Le Brun, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016, p. 161, repr. (col.) fig. 52.

Kaiser, Reinhard, Der gluckliche Kunstrauber: das Leben des Vivant Denon, Munich, Verlag C.H. Beck oHG, 2016, repr. (col.) fig. 1.

Exhibition HistoryFort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun 1755-1842, 1982, no. 37.

Paris, Musee du Louvre, Dominique-Vivant Denon: l'oeil de Napoleon, 1999-2000, no. 540.

Paris, Grand Palais, Galeries nationales; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Musee des Beaux-Arts du Canada, Ottawa, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Sept. 21, 2015 - Sept. 12, 2016.