Marie Antoinette Gathering the Brushes of Madame Vigée Le Brun is an oil painting by Alexis-Joseph Pérignon, created around 1859 and currently housed in the New Orleans Museum of Art. The painting captures an unexpected and intimate moment between Queen Marie Antoinette and her official portraitist, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun.
According to Vigée Le Brun’s memoirs, during a painting session at Versailles, she accidentally dropped her brushes. Despite the strict etiquette of the French court, Marie Antoinette, rather than waiting for a servant, gracefully bent down to retrieve them herself. This small but surprising gesture revealed a more personal and approachable side of the queen, who is often remembered for her detachment from the struggles of her people.
Pérignon’s painting masterfully preserves this moment with great attention to elegance and atmosphere. Marie Antoinette, dressed in her fine court attire, is depicted mid-motion, her gown skimming the floor as she picks up the brushes. A visibly taken-aback Vigée Le Brun watches in disbelief. The composition subtly highlights the close bond between the two women, as Vigée Le Brun was not only the queen’s favorite portraitist but also one of the few female artists allowed into her private circle.
Marie Antoinette, the Austrian-born Queen of France, became a deeply divisive figure at the time of the French Revolution. Initially admired for her grace and charm, she was later vilified as a symbol of royal excess and detachment, famously (and falsely) attributed to the phrase “Let them eat cake.” Meanwhile, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, a rare woman in the male-dominated art world, was one of the few artists permitted to move freely within the court. Her close relationship with the queen forced her into exile during the Revolution, but she continued her career throughout Europe, painting aristocrats and royalty even after Marie Antoinette’s execution in 1793.
Pérignon’s painting, created decades after these events, offers a nostalgic and humanizing portrayal of the queen, contrasting sharply with the harsher historical judgments passed on her. By focusing on a simple act of kindness, the artwork reframes Marie Antoinette—not as the distant, frivolous figure of revolutionary propaganda, but as a woman capable of humility, warmth, and friendship.