Chapter I. Youth. PAGE

Precocious Talents Manifested — Mlle. Vigée's Father and Mother — Death of Her Father — A Friend of Her Girlhood — Her Mother Remarries — Mlle. Vigée's First Portrait of Note (Count Schouvaloff) — Acquaintance with Mme. Geoffrin — The Authoress's Puritanical Bringing-up — Male Sitters Attempt Flirtation — Public Resorts of Paris Before the Revolution 3

Chapter II. Up the Ladder of Fame.

Tedious Sojourn in the Country — Social Amenities in Paris — Mlle. Vigée Becomes Mme. Lebrun — Prognostications of Unhappy Wedlock — On the Ladder of Fame — Singularities of Oriental Taste — Marie Antoinette as a Model — Painting the Royal Family — How Louis XVIII. Sang — The Princess de Lamballe 16

Chapter III. Work and Pleasure.

Impressions of Flanders — The Authoress's Election to the French Royal Academy of Painting — Her Devotion to Work — Social Pleasures — A Tale of an Artist's Extravagance — Calonne and Calumny — M. Lebrun Allows His Wife Naught Per Cent. of Her Earnings — A Dramatic Constellation — The Incomparable Mme. Dugazon 32

Chapter IV. Exile.

A Gallic Maecenas — Anecdote Concerning Beaumarchais — The Duke de Nivernais — Mme. Du Barry Sketched in Words — And Painted in Oils — Rumblings of the Revolution — Mme. Lebrun's Fearsome Journey to Italy — Renewed Artistic Activity at Rome — Easter Sunday at St. Peter's — Fascination of the Eternal City — Vanities and Violences of Its People 47

Chapter V. Neapolitan Days.

Naples — A Sleepy Ambassadress — The Remarkable Life of Lady Hamilton — Being the Story of a Frivolous Flirt Fond of Beer — More Royal Models — Excursions to Posilippo — Mlle. Lebrun Writes a Novel at the Age of Nine — The Queen of Naples Sits to the Authoress — The Wedding of the Doge of Venice with the Sea 63

Chapter VI. Turin and Vienna.

A Queen Who Refused to Be Painted — A Four-Course Dinner of Frogs, Frogs, Frogs and Frogs — Villeggiatura — French Refugees at Turin — Their Heartrending Plight — Vienna — News of the "Awful Murder" of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette — Barefoot Princess Lichtenstein — Inducements to Visit Russia — Journey Thither via Dresden — The Sistine Madonna 74

Chapter VII. Saint Petersburg.

Arrival at St. Petersburg — The Beautiful Grandduchess Elisabeth — Catherine II. Receives Mme. Lebrun — And Is Most Gracious — Petty Court Intrigues — A Visit to Count Strogonoff — Hospitality of the Russians — An Ambassador as Gardener — Princess Dolgoruki and Her Hideous Admirer — The Extravagances of Potemkin — His End 83

Chapter VIII. Life in Russia.

Painting Russian Royalties — Festivities at Court — The Pangs of Waiting for Dinner — "To Keep Warm, Spend the Winter in Russia" — The Hardiness of Its Common People — Who Are Well Suited with Serfdom — And Remarkably Honest — The Quaint Ceremonial of Blessing the Neva — Various Social Customs 96

Chapter IX. Catherine II.

Surroundings of St. Petersburg — Patriarchal Unconventionalities — An Artillery Repast — The Greatness of the Second Catherine — Who Lit Her Own Fire and Made Her Own Coffee — And Was Sworn at by a Chimney Sweeper — Other Domestic Amenities in the Career of an Empress — The Suit of Gustavus IV. — Catherine's Death — Humiliating Funeral Incidents 109

Chapter X. The Emperor Paul.

Accession of the Emperor Paul — His Arbitrary Rule — His Civility to the Authoress — A Man Who Did Not Know the Emperor's Address — Paul's Kindness to Foreigners — His Fear of Assassination — His Personal Appearance — The Empress Maria — Vagaries of a Half-Mad Emperor — A Noble Prelate 119

Chapter XI. Family Affairs.