Marie Antoinette and her Children - Louise Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun

A formal portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette with her children, painted by her favoured artist, Louise Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, in 1787.

Commissioned by the French royal administration, this large-scale oil painting depicts Queen Marie Antoinette with her children: Marie Thérèse, the Dauphin Louis Charles, and the infant Louis XVII. Louise Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, the favoured portraitist of the Queen, composed this work to improve the public perception of the monarch. By presenting the Queen as a devoted, maternal figure rather than an aloof sovereign, the artist aimed to counter the negative publicity surrounding the royal family during the late 1780s.

The composition follows a triangular arrangement, placing the Queen at the centre. She wears a deep red velvet gown, which provides a strong contrast to the muted, dark interior of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The empty cradle on the right refers to the recent death of the youngest princess, Sophie, adding a layer of melancholy to the scene. The children are depicted with naturalistic expressions, while the Queen gazes directly at the viewer with a composed, dignified posture. Vigée Le Brun utilised soft lighting to model the figures, demonstrating her technical skill in rendering textures such as the velvet of the dress, the lace of the children's garments, and the ostrich feathers in the Queen's hair.

This work remains a primary example of late eighteenth-century French court portraiture. It captures the tension between the formal requirements of royal representation and the growing interest in domestic, sentimental themes. The painting is currently held in the collection of the Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon.