Self Portrait with Two Pupils by Adelaide Gabille Guiard

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Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de Rosemond was done Adelaide Labille Guiard in 1785. It was done in Paris, France and the medium is oil on canvas. Adelaide Labille Guiard was born in 1749 and died in 1803. She was one of few to practice and master at miniatures, pastels and oil paintings. Due to male dominance in these practices, women were not accepted as pupils, due to society perception that women are not able to follow instructions as easily as men.
Adelaide Labille Guiard painted Self-Portrait with Two Pupils like a large-scale history painting. In this large piece of work, the viewer can see her at easel and two of her female students, Marie Gabrielle Capet and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de Rosemond, which are looking over her shoulder. This painting engages the viewer by making it look as though the viewer is the subject of her work. The artist herself posed and dressed as a wealthy well dressed lady in a fashionable dress from that time. She also placed numeral objects that capture the viewers eyes, such as two statues in the back of her father and Vestal Virgin, the easel in the left corner, the bright green color of the material of her chair and burgundy footrest in the right corner.
Working at her father’s clothing shop, she became very knowledgeable about expensive textiles and embellishments, which were captured in her works later in career. She was able to capture the beauty and lavishness of fabrics in portraits of aristocratic women.
She captured herself in beautiful low-cut blue satin dress and the students in working dresses. The dress was painted in great detail and captured both the sheen and fluidity of satin. This was achieved by using shading and li...

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... masculine compared to soft paintings of Vigee Le Brun. Adelaide’s works were so good and beautiful and many thought that her lover did her works that is due to discrimination of women and belief that women cannot be as good of an artists as men. She brought attention to this issue and it worked to be a positive advertisement for her.
The painting has an order and there are different shapes and angles. Rectangular shape is main trend around this piece, including the wooden chest, the leg rest and the canvass. Also things overlap, creating the illusion of the shape look closer to viewer than the shape behind it. The example in this piece would be the chair on which Adelaide Labille Guiard sits be close to viewer than the girls behind it. This adds depth to the space. Also due to linear perspective girls behind the chair are smaller due to being farther away.

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