Il ritratto impossibile: la morte nel racconto visivo di Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Quando nel 1835-37 l’anziana pittrice francese Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) pubblica i tre volumi dei suoi “Souvenirs”, ripercorre all’indietro l’esperienza di una biografia d’artista vissuta attraverso le principali corti di Europa nell’età della Rivoluzione Francese e dell’Impero napoleonico. Ritrattista di sovrani, acuta indagatrice di un’umanità in azione fatta di volti, gesti, sguardi, nel racconto apologetico dei suoi ricordi Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun si confronta con il tema drammatico della morte nel momento della caduta irreversibile dell’Ancien Régime, un universo a lei familiare e amico, protettivo e rassicurante. Se allo scoppio della Rivoluzione Francese Jacques-Louis David fa della morte l’icona esemplare per gli eroi della nuova Storia, Élisabeth guarda con orrore a questo soggetto, impossibilitata a fissare la tragedia della fine di un’epoca. Ma in lei il rifiuto della morte non è solo il pretesto per negare la sconfitta di un modello politico fondato sul privilegio: per un ritrattista la morte rappresenta infatti la negazione di quanto la pittura e la teoria artistica andavano affermando da oltre tre secoli, a partire dalle esperienze sulla fisiognomica di Leonardo da Vinci. Così, nel racconto letterario la penna dell’artista registra la morte e allo stesso tempo la sua impossibilità di essere tradotta con il pennello.

In the story of her Souvenirs (1835-1837) the old painter Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842), recalls the portraits of European aristocracy long journey to the outbreak of the French Revolution. Away from France, the painter thinks with anxiety the fate of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Clery, a servant of the king in the Temple prison, in a long letter urges her to do a painting that represents the last moments of the rulers. But the pain is too strong and Élisabeth abandons the plan. The refusal expressed by the artist on this occasion provides an opportunity to investigate the special relationship that the portrait shows towards the death. The years of Revolution and Terrorism coincide with particular increase of the representation of death in visual arts. The death of the sovereign is represented with dignity and without any compassion. This is the case of Jacques-Louis David, which he recorded by the contempt in the image of Marie Antoinette led to execution. For David, champion of the revolutionary motion, true martyrs are Marat or young Bara. This is how new iconography is formed: in reading secular history, the revolutionary hero’s sacrifice takes the place of martyrdom of the saint. Seen as perpetrators or victims, the protagonists of the Revolution and the Terror are thus immortalized in the moment of death. The paintings, the funeral ceremonies with the display of bodies, the practice of the cast of the death-mask are increasingly frequent in those years. The guillotine is a true “portrait machine”. Faced with this proliferation of images of death Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun seems to withdraw. She is essentially a portrait painter and she describes humanity woven of faces, gestures and looks. Elisabeth describes the dead body of the Empress Catherine II of Russia, refusing to look at the face. The face of a dead person must not, in fact, remain in the memories of a portrait, because it no longer corresponds to what was in life. Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun left some descriptions and guidance in her Souvenirs: death distorts the faces beyond recognition and it carries with it the true essence of people. The artist painted many portraits during her long career: portraits in action, caught almost by surprise, suspended while persons write, sing, enjoy, walk, smile ... This is precisely what a good portrait painter has to do - reveal the soul. The death may exist, but only as an anecdote: a portrait of death is simply impossible.