As the art historian Mary Sherrif proposes, the subject of Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun's Self Portrait 1790 is undeniably the artist herself, and the art of painting. In this composition her face lit by bounced light Vigee-LeBrun looks towards the spectator, she is seated upright, posed and poised very much in an aristocratic manner in front of her canvas. She holds a paint brush in one hand, and a palette and collection of brushes in the other sketching …showed first 75 words of 504 total…

…showed last 75 words of 504 total…the difference between drawing and memory. From the composition it appears that the portrait of Marie-Antionette is gazing directly upon the artist as though the sitter is apparent outside the boundaries of the frame. Yet the self portrait was executed subsequent to Vigee-Lebrun's exile to Italy; as a result she is depicting the image of Queen Marie-Antionette purely from memory, at a time when women artists were not thought capable of such inventive artistic endeavors