Mrs Kauffman and Madame Le Brun: The Extraordinary Entwined Lives of Two Eighteenth-Century Painters

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Franny Moyle

Mrs Kauffman and Madame Le Brun

The Extraordinary Entwined Lives of Two Eighteenth-Century Painters

Franny Moyle

$69.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Head of Zeus
06 January 2026

Art & Architecture; History of art & design styles: c 1600 to c 1800; Painting & paintings; Individual artists, art monographs; Feminism & feminist theory

In the late autumn of 1789, two of Europe’s most celebrated painters met in Rome. One, Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss-born prodigy who had conquered the art scenes of London and Italy. The other, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, a Parisienne portraitist and favourite of the ancien regime, had just fled revolutionary France under threat of violence and scandal. Both were feted in their time, both were trailblazers in a male-dominated world – visionaries who helped define eighteenth-century art and feminism before the term existed.

This dual biography, framed within a thrilling story, restores these two extraordinary but unjustly overlooked figures to their rightful place in history. Set against a backdrop of revolution, empire and Enlightenment, it traces the dramatic lives and remarkable careers of Vigée Le Brun and Kauffman: artists who not only achieved unparalleled success and influence, but did so while pushing the boundaries of what women could be, both on canvas and in society.

With vivid storytelling, one of the most gifted living writers of artistic biography, Franny Moyle, reclaims their legacies. She examines how each artist navigated fame, scandal and exile; explores the relationships between them and their peers; and considers how they were caught up in the huge cultural cross-currents that were reshaping Europe.

Through their work and their lives, they spoke boldly to the roles of women in public life, highlighted the prejudices and abuses suffered by their sex, reimagined and celebrated the female subject and challenged the institutions that sought to contain them. Through them we encounter icons such as Marie Antoinette (whose portrait by Le Brun scandalised French society) and Catherine the Great, as well as cultural figures such as Emma Hamilton and Madame de Staël. The most notable men of their time – monarchs, statesman, aristocrats, artists and more – are also woven into the fabric of the tale.

MRS KAUFFMAN & MADAME LE BRUN is a timely, revelatory history that not only brings two forgotten artists into view, but rethinks the story of European art itself.

By: Franny Moyle
Imprint: Head of Zeus
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 164mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 1.080kg
ISBN: 9781801107440
ISBN 10: 1801107440
Pages: 496
Publication Date: 06 January 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Franny Moyle is an author, art historian, television producer, contributor, lecturer curator and consultant. Her biography of Hans Holbein, the critically acclaimed The King’s Painter was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Her other books include: The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of JMW Turner; Desperate Romantics a serial biography of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which was adapted into a six part drama for BBC 2 television, and The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs Oscar Wilde, also selected as Book of the Week on Radio 4.

Reviews for Mrs Kauffman and Madame Le Brun: The Extraordinary Entwined Lives of Two Eighteenth-Century Painters

Praise for Franny Moyle: Wolf Hall but with pics… This is a great thrusting cod piece of a book. It is big, bombastic and richly brocaded... I take my feathered cap off to Moyle and her publishers. This is a triumph of book-making as well as biography. This sumptuous book is a jewel in its own right. * Laura Freeman, The Times * Evokes the painter and his world as vividly as a Holbein masterpiece. Beautifully written and illustrated, this book is a must for lovers of Tudor history. * Tracy Borman * Full of insight... This is a gorgeous book, to which I am sure I shall return again and again. * Dan Jones * One of the great strengths of Moyle's book is that it allows you to view Holbein's enormous versatility. Ambitious [and] sumptuously illustrated. * Spectator *