Departure from Moscow–News of the Death of Paul–Particulars of His Assassination–Et tu Brute?–Paul's Presentiments of Peril–His Successor Not an Accomplice in the Crime–Alexander I. Journey to Moscow–A Bad Smell and Its Origin–First Impression of Moscow–Another Impression, Oral and Unpleasing–The Kremlin–Steam-and-Snow Bathing–Society–Luxurious Prince Kurakin–An Impossible Duologue–Examples of Russian Cleverness–Determination to Return to FranceĬHAPTER XIII. Petersburg Academy–Her Daughter's Untoward Marriage–Resulting in Estrangement Between Mother and ChildĬHAPTER XII. Poniatowski, Last King of Poland–His Amiable Character–The Authoress's Faculty of Presaging Death–Poniatowski the Nephew–Mme. Accession of the Emperor Paul–His Arbitrary Rule–His Civility to the Authoress–A Man Who Did Not Know the Emperor's Address–Paul's Kindness to Foreigners–His Fear of Assassination–His Personal Appearance–The Empress Maria–Vagaries of a Half-Mad Emperor–A Noble PrelateĬHAPTER XI. Petersburg–Patriarchal Unconventionalities–An Artillery Repast–The Greatness of the Second Catherine–Who Lit Her Own Fire and Made Her Own Coffee–And Was Sworn at by a Chimney Sweeper–Other Domestic Amenities in the Career of an Empress–The Suit of Gustavus IV.–Catherine's Death–Humiliating Funeral IncidentsĬHAPTER X. Painting Russian Royalties–Festivities at Court–The Pangs of Waiting for Dinner–'To Keep Warm, Spend the Winter in Russia'–The Hardiness of Its Common People–Who Are Well Suited with Serfdom–And Remarkably Honest–The Quaint Ceremonial of Blessing the Neva–Various Social CustomsĬHAPTER IX. Lebrun–And Is Most Gracious–Petty Court Intrigues–A Visit to Count Strogonoff–Hospitality of the Russians–An Ambassador as Gardener–Princess Dolgoruki and Her Hideous Admirer–The Extravagances of Potemkin–His EndĬHAPTER VIII. Petersburg–The Beautiful Grandduchess Elisabeth–Catherine II. and Marie Antoinette–Barefoot Princess Lichtenstein–Inducements to Visit Russia–Journey Thither via Dresden–The Sistine MadonnaĬHAPTER VII. A Queen Who Refused to Be Painted–A Four-Course Dinner of Frogs, Frogs, Frogs and Frogs–Villeggiatura–French Refugees at Turin–Their Heartrending Plight–Vienna–News of the 'Awful Murder' of Louis XVI. Lebrun Writes a Novel at the Age of Nine–The Queen of Naples Sits to the Authoress–The Wedding of the Doge of Venice with the SeaĬHAPTER VI. Naples–A Sleepy Ambassadress–The Remarkable Life of Lady Hamilton–Being the Story of a Frivolous Flirt Fond of Beer–More Royal Models–Excursions to Posilippo–Mlle. Peter's–Fascination of the Eternal City–Vanities and Violences of Its PeopleĬHAPTER V.

Lebrun's Fearsome Journey to Italy–Renewed Artistic Activity at Rome–Easter Sunday at St. Du Barry Sketched in Words–And Painted in Oils–Rumblings of the A Gallic Maecenas–Anecdote Concerning Beaumarchais–The Duke de Nivernais–Mme.

of Her Earnings–A Dramatic Constellation–The Incomparable Mme. Impressions of Flanders–The Authoress's Election to the French Royal Academy of Painting–Her Devotion to Work–Social Pleasures–A Tale of an Artist's Extravagance–Calonne and Calumny–M. Sang–The Princess de LamballeĬHAPTER III. Lebrun–Prognostications of Unhappy Wedlock–On the Ladder of Fame–Singularities of Oriental Taste–Marie Antoinette as a Model–Painting the Royal Family–How Louis XVIII. Tedious Sojourn in the Country–Social Amenities in Paris–Mlle. Geoffrin–The Authoress's Puritanical Bringing-up–Male Sitters Attempt Flirtation–Public Resorts of Paris Before the RevolutionĬHAPTER II. Vigée's First Portrait of Note (Count Schouvaloff)–Acquaintance with Mme. Vigée's Father and Mother–Death of Her Father–A Friend of Her Girlhood–Her Mother Remarries–Mlle. This book forms a rendering of Madame Carette's edition of the Lebrun Memoirs, slightly abridged for the sake of uniformity with the 'Memoirs of the Countess Potocka' and the 'Memoirs of a Contemporary,' issuing from the same hands as the present volume. In 1776 Mademoiselle Vigée was married to Jean Baptiste Pierre Lebrun, a notable picture dealer and critic, known also to his contemporaries as an inveterate gambler. Her baptismal name was Marie Louise Élisabeth. She was the daughter of Louis Vigée, an obscure portrait painter. The authoress was born in 1756, at Paris, where she died in 1842. Madame Lebrun brought out her Memoirs at the suggestion of her friend, the Princess Dolgoruki, in 1835.

Vigee le brun marie antoinette