This is a copy of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun’s self-portrait, commissioned in 1789 (while she was in Florence), for the collection of artists’ self-portraits in the Galleria degli Uffizi. The improvised white turban partially covering her hair recalls the white cap worn by Rembrandt in several of his later self-portraits, while the dark colour of her gown suggests her official position as a member of the Académie Royale.

The original commission allowed Vigée Le Brun to reassert her credo, 'I may be a woman, but first I am an artist', and she appears here in the act of painting the head of Marie-Antoinette, to whom she remained faithful despite the French Royal family's downfall in the Revolution. Painted from the political safety of Italy, this painting acts as a statement of intent, and Marie-Antoinette's inclusion communicates a clear message to Vigée Le Brun's potential royal and aristocratic clients. However, the artist puts herself at the centre of the composition, which fundamentally remains an assertion of her profession: her face, still youthful and beautiful, confronts the viewer directly, as if studying them for their own portrait.

Six other autograph copies of the original painting exist, including one at Ickworth House, in which the figure of Marie-Antoinette is replaced by Vigée Le Brun’s daughter, Julie. A 1792 engraving by Dominique Vivant Denon switches the image on the canvas with a portrait by Raphael, then believed to be his self-portrait.

Leopoldo Dumini was an Italian artist who often produced copies of well-known works. This example was one of the many wedding presents sent to the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, in the summer of 1893.

Text adapted from Portrait of the Artist, London, 2016