Self Portrait was first introduced to the world in 1802 at the Paris Salon. Marie-Denise Villers, being one of the only thirty women to present artwork at the Paris Salon, displayed various artworks she had produced within the past few years. The Self Portrait is a depiction of Marie, who is seemingly tying her shoes. While this painting is to depict herself, she used a model for the hands and different aspects of the body. When she accredited the model, Marie-Louise Soustras, for the use of her figure, this led people to mistake the model as being the entire subject in the painting for many years. For nearly a whole century, this painting was known as the Portrait of Madame Soustras.
Being known for portraits, this painting depicts many of the same themes she had explored with her other portraits. She creates detailed images of women during the neoclassical period. Her art is most praised for the amount of detail within face and clothing. With this piece in particular, we can observe the details within the dark lace of her attire. This was much more detailed and realistic compared to other words in her time. This fashion, also is a huge tell of the fashion in post revolution times. We can observe common use of lace and darker colors.
There is a lot of detail in this piece. These details speculate just exactly what Marie-Denise Villers wanted to convey. To the left, we can see a freshly plucked flower in the hand of an empty glove. This could be dismissed as the addition of a garden lover, or this flower could symbolize something more important, such as the aspect of romance and flourishment.
While my story isn’t centered around this particular piece, this portrait creates a vivid image of Marie-Denise Villers. I believe this piece not only depicts Villers’ beauties, but also her character and themes as an artist. This helps me develop her as a character and bring her to life.