About Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
Born in Paris to humble origins, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun overcame all obstacles to become Marie-Antoinette’s favourite court painter and one of the most fashionable and sought-after portraitists of the late eighteenth century. Known for imbibing her work with a freshness and spirit, Le Brun’s career spanned the Ancien Régime, the Revolution, the Empire, and the Restoration. She worked not only at the French Court, but also at the Hapsburg Court in Vienna, Ferdinand IV's Court of Naples, and for Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg.
About Maria D’Amario
Maria D’Amario is an art historian specializing in European decorative arts and the American Gilded Age. A graduate of Denison University, Maria holds a post-graduate diploma in The History of Art from the University of Oxford. She also holds an M.A. in the Venetian Renaissance from the University of Warwick in Coventry, U.K. Maria has worked with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Royal Collection Trust in London. For many years she served as trustee of the U.K. Friends of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington DC) and currently works for The Preservation Society of Newport County.
