Page:Women in the Fine Arts From the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentiet.djvu/454

Rh prominent woman of her day, and her autobiography is charming—it is so alive that one forgets that she is not present, telling her story!

The father of this gifted daughter was an artist of moderate ability and made portraits in pastel, which Elizabeth, in her "Souvenirs," speaks of as good and thinks some of them worthy of comparison with those of the famous Latour. M. Vigée was an agreeable man with much vivacity of manner. His friends were numerous and he was able to present his daughter to people whose acquaintance was of value to her. She was but twelve years old at the time of his death, and he had already so encouraged her talents as to make her future comparatively easy for her.

Elizabeth passed five years of her childhood in a convent, where she constantly busied herself in sketching everything that she saw. She tells of her intense pleasure in the use of her pencil, and says that her passion for painting was innate and never grew less, but increased in charm as she grew older. She claimed that it was a source of perpetual youth, and that she owed to it her acquaintance and friendship with the most delightful men and women of Europe.

While still a young girl. Mlle. Vigée studied under Briard, Doyen, and Greuze, but Joseph Vemet advised her to study the works of Italian and Flemish masters, and, above all, to study Nature for herself—to follow no school or system. To this advice Mme. Le Brun attributed her success.

When sixteen years old she presented two portraits to