Queer reinterpretation of Vigée Le Brun's 1781 painting challenges art historical narratives

Hortense Belhôte offers a queer reading of Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun's 1781 painting 'Juno Borrowing the Belt of Venus,' suggesting the mythological scene carries erotic undertones. Commissioned by Charles Philippe, brother of Louis XVI, the work reflects the libertine tastes of the French court and rococo artists like François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Vigée Le Brun navigated restrictions on female painters by creating female-only allegories, allowing her to work in the prestigious history painting genre while avoiding male nudity. Recent exhibitions at the Musée du Luxembourg and Grand Palais in Paris have highlighted female artists of the period, including Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Marie-Guillemine Benoist. Scholars like Melissa Hyde, Charlotte Guichard, and Martine Lacas analyze their careers through strategic compromises. Art historian Philippe Bordes argues that focus on Jacques-Louis David has erased much period art, particularly the rococo's replacement by neoclassical narratives. The painting's subject appeared in François Hippolyte Barthélémon's 1769 Bordeaux opera and Charles Dibdin's 1783 London serenade, while fashion trends embraced 'à l'antique' styles. Belhôte connects Vigée Le Brun's subversion of norms to contemporary LGBTQIA+ expression, noting that while gender studies since the 1990s have examined male bodies, femininities remain understudied.