Oh, to be the portrait painter of the kings and queens of all of Europe! She's in my next book!

Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842) traveled Europe after she fled Paris during the Revolution. Known even before she left as the woman who portrayed Marie Antoinette in her boudoir wit her children, Le Brun had also painted many Frenchmen and woman and those who traveled to Versailles.

She feared returning to France during the upheavals of governments and traveled freely in the UK and on the Continent. She never learned English, but so many spoke French in many countries that she got along in a smattering of German and Russian.

She painted the portraits of Alexander I of Russia and his wife, Alexandra. Other portraits were of women and men in Lichtenstein, Bavaria, Belgium and England. Her price was approximately 1,000 British pounds in 1805.

She visited Brighton in the summer of 1805 and I have included her in LORD CARLISLE'S ENTICING LURE, debuting in August 2025!

Marie-Antoinette and her children 1787. Versailles.

Madame du Barry, portrait by Le Brun.

Comte de Vaudreuil, portrait by Le Brun.
He was for a short period Le Brun's lover.