Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun painter of children and maternal love

... which was impressed by the ideas set out in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s book Emile, and people attached greater importance to the bonds uniting a mother and her children.



Extolling this maternal love, the portrait artist produced two «iconic» paintings of herself with her daughter Julie.



She also painted many pictures of children alone or in the company of their mother. She often used the compositions of Raphaël as models to produce these pictures. Exhibited at the Salon and appreciated by the critics, these paintings prompted other artists to depict the same subjects.