Engraving Louis, Dauphin, son of Louis XVI, and his sister

A renowned portrait painter of the 18th and 19th centuries, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun enjoyed such a flourishing career that she became the official painter of Queen Marie Antoinette. The 1784 painting was commissioned directly by the Queen and reflects the characteristics of portraits of aristocratic...

A renowned portrait painter of the 18th and 19th centuries, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun enjoyed such a flourishing career that she became the official painter of Queen Marie Antoinette. The 1784 painting was commissioned directly by the Queen and reflects the characteristics of portraits of aristocratic children, such as that of the Count of Artois and his sister Madame Clotilde painted by François-Hubert Drouais in 1763. The children are outdoors, surrounded by nature and accompanied by animals, in this case baby birds in the young boy's hand. This engraving by Maurice Blot (1753/54-1818) depicts the children of the royal couple, Louis the Dauphin and his sister Marie-Thérèse. Blot's reproduction of the original work preserves the great innocence of these two royal descendants and the tenderness of Marie-Thérèse's gaze on her brother, the Dauphin.