The Marquise de Pezay, and the Marquise de Rougé with Her Sons Alexis and Adrien

This is a painting by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun called The Marquise de Pezay, and the Marquise de Rougé with Her Sons Alexis and Adrien (1787). The painting depicts two women, the Marquise de Pezay (left) and the Marquise de Rougé (right), sitting together along with the Marquise de Rougé's children Alexis and Adrien huddled next to her. The four are sitting in a park or garden-like area on what appears to be a cloudy day. The emphasis of the painting is the two women, who are happily conversing with one another, projecting one of the themes of the painting, which is friendship. This can be seen from the open, care-free body positions they have towards each other (leaning, touching the shoulder, etc.), as well as their close seating arrangement. Along with friendship is the theme of motherhood. Here, one child is lovingly staring at his mother, while the other rests on her lap; the light strongly focused on the child's face to emphasize his happiness to be with his mother. Vigée-Lebrun wanted to stress the important relationship between a mother and child, which can not only be seen from the children clinging to their mother but also from the symbolic environment they are in, Mother Nature. The trees in the background and the flowers at the bottom right corner symbolize fertility, reproduction, and the association of women with motherhood as natural. Also, all four are looking in different directions, again reinforcing the idea that this scene is natural and thus motherhood and women friendships are natural. Interestingly though, this scene occurs on a cloudy day. This atmosphere could have been alluding to the troubling atmosphere that Vigée-Lebrun was living under at the time. Since the painting was completed two years before the French Revolution, it can be assumed that tensions in France were quickly accumulating. Vigée-Lebrun could have been making a statement that women should stick together and always attend to their motherly duties despite any impending chaos or change about to take place.