Iris2.0012_Vigée-Lebrun

Iris2.0012_Vigée-Lebrun

OGCMA s.v. "Iris"
LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna

Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842), "Portrait of Princess Karoline von Liechtenstein (1768-1831), née Countess von Manderscheidt Blankenheim, as Iris" (1793); oil on canvas (222 x 159 cm), LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna, inv. GE 1787, acquired in 1794 by Prince Prince Alois I von Liechtenstein from the artist after a commission in 1793..

The princess floats ethereally and the breeze fills her wrap like the vault of heaven she commands. The swath of the rainbow subtly identifies the young woman as the goddess who conveys messages from the Queen of the gods, Hera.

Vigée-Lebrun, Iris

© LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna

For further information, including bibliographic resources, please visit: https://www.liechtensteincollections.at/en/collections-online/portrait-of-princess-karoline-von-liechtenstein-1768-1831-nee-countess-von-manderscheidt-blankenheim-as-iris

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.