In the last few decades interest in the life and work of Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun has increased significantly, with numerous publications and a retrospective exhibition dedicated to her oeuvre. Yet, while much new and valuable information has been introduced, very little of it deals specifically with the period from 1795-1800 when she lived as an emigre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

In this thesis I analyze two Russian portraits by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, in relation to two earlier works she painted in Paris, the duchesse d'Orleans (1789) and Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1783), elucidating the overt similarities to her earlier portraiture practice and exploring the cultural and political climate in which they were created. I argue that the Imperial family as well as the upper echelons of Russian society actively utilized imagery associated with the Ancien Regime to depict a perceived stability at a time when much of Europe was in flux. This political maneuver afforded Vigee-Lebrun the opportunity to live and work in a society similar to the one she left behind in Paris, Russia served thus as a surrogate for Ancien Regime France.

In addition to examining the socio political climate of Russia, I consider portraiture practices in general, noting opposing trends that were developing contemporaneously elsewhere in Europe and review Vigee-Lebrun's unusual status as an emigre. By contextualizing Princess Anna Alexandrovna Golitsyna and Empress Maria Fyodorovna I provide reasoning for her surprising level of success in Saint Petersburg while simultaneously highlighting the importance of this period in Vigee-Lebrun scholarship.