She resolved to go to Italy, and, with poignant grief, bade adieu to her home and friends. But the journey commenced so sadly proved a triumphant progress, crowned with tokens of respect and homage.
In Bologna she was at once declared a member of the Academy. At Rome she was welcomed by a deputation of artists, who went to meet her; while the painter Menageot, who had just been appointed director of the French Academy, assigned her apartments in the palace of the institution.
In Naples she was received with marks of distinction by the queen, the sister of Marie Antoinette, and here several residents of rank sat to her for their portraits—among others, the beautiful Lady Hamilton, whom the artist painted as a Bacchante reclining on the sea-shore. This picture was highly praised, and spread far and wide the fame of Madame Le Brun.
In Florence she was requested to paint a portrait of herself for the collection of originals to which reference has already been made. She finished the portrait for this gallery, where it was placed in 1790, two years after that of Angelica Kauffman had been added to the collection.
Goethe says of the portrait of Angelica Kauffman, comparing it with that of Madame Le Brun in the same gallery: “It has a truer tone in the coloring; the position is more pleasing, and the whole exhibits more correct taste and a higher spirit in art. But the work of Le Brun shows more careful execution; has more vigor in the drawing, and more delicate touches. It has, moreover, a clear, though somewhat exaggerated coloring. The Frenchwoman understands the art of adornment; the head-dress, the hair, the folds of lace on the bosom—all are arranged with care, and, as one might say, con amore. The piquant, handsome face, with its lively expression, its parted lips disclosing a row of pearly teeth, presents itself to the beholder’s gaze as if coquettishly challenging his admiration, while the hand holds the pencil as in the act of drawing. The picture of Angelica, with the head gently inclined, and the soft, intellectual melancholy of the countenance, evinces higher genius, even if, in point of artistic skill, the preference would be given to the other.”
From a comparison of the two portraits, a contrast might be drawn in the contemplation of the lives and characters of the two artists. But we will return to Madame Le Brun, whom we find pursuing the journeys she made as a conqueror, receiving new honors and new tributes wherever she passed.
After visiting Florence and Parma, where she was elected a member of the Academy, she went to Venice, Verona, and Milan. Italy—the land where the fairest fruits of female genius in painting had been found—seemed eager to pay the homage of admiration to the gifted daughter of another clime. Compliments and felicitations were showered upon her by the countrymen of a Sirani and a Robusti.
She came at length to Vienna, where the Count Kaunitz received her with friendly welcome, and immediately introduced her at court. A golden harvest here awaited her efforts, and gallant attentions from persons in high places were not wanting. The Prince de Ligne—a type of the cavaliers of the ancien régime, whom she had known in former years at the court of Versailles—devoted himself to her service, and sang her praises in amatory verses.
Visiting Berlin, she found an old friend in the person of Prince Henry, and had a very favorable reception at court. Thence she went to St. Petersburg, where she lived some years in a brilliant circle of society under the protection of the Empress Catherine II. and Paul I.
The honors heaped upon her were crowned in 1800 by her election to membership in the Academy of Arts; but, notwithstanding the favor in which she stood with the imperial family and the nobility, and the influx of wealth that grew out of their kindness and the extended appreciation of her paintings, the condition of her health at last obliged her to quit Russia. The entreaties of the emperor and empress could not prevail upon her to remain longer than 1801.