Portrait of Hyacinthe Gabrielle Roland by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun

Vigée Le Brun painted Portrait of Hyacinthe Gabrielle Roland around 1791, one of her last portraits before the increasing danger of the Revolutionary period for artists associated with the Ancien Régime court drove her into exile. The portrait documents the period's changing sartorial values: the elaborate formal dress of her pre-Revolutionary sitters giving way to the simpler muslin and natural styling associated with Republican virtue. Her ability to maintain the quality of psychological insight and technical luminosity through this period of social upheaval demonstrates the independence of her artistic gifts from the specific social context that had formed her career.

Vigée Le Brun renders the sitter with her characteristic luminous technique, using warm flesh tones and soft modeling. The elegant composition and refined handling of accessories demonstrate the consistent quality of her portraiture throughout her years of exile.