Madame Grassini in the Role of Zaire (1805)

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun: Madame Grassini in the Role of Zaire

Another painting from Neoclassic standout Mme. Vigée Le Brun. Madame Grassini was an Italian contralto who had the distinction of having both Napoleon and Wellington as lovers! She was also very gracious and generous, as the following anecdote recounted by Mme. Vigée Le Brun illustrates:

"At the moment I was to get into the post-chaise that was to convey me to the inn near my place of embarkation [to return to France after a three-year stay in England], the charming Mme. Grassini appeared on the scene. I thought she had simply come to bid me farewell, but she declared she wished to take me to the inn, and made me get into her carriage, which I found full of pillows and packages. ‘What is all this for?’ I inquired. ‘You are not aware, then,’ she replied, ‘that you are going to the worst inn of the world? You may have to wait there a week or more if the wind is not favourable, and I have made up my mind to stay with you.’ I can hardly say how moved I was at this token of affection. The beautiful woman was leaving the pleasures of London and her friends, to say nothing of the host of admirers always in her train, merely to keep me company. To me this seemed lovable, and I have never forgotten it."

I wonder which came first: this incident, which then sparked Vigée Le Brun to paint this wonderful (and flattering) portrait, or the portrait, which encouraged Mme. Grassini to be so generous?