"A court painter to Marie Antoinette, Vigee-Lebrun is a part of the feminist hidden heritage rediscovered in the 1970s. Although she has inspired exhibition catalogs and book chapters since, this is the only recent English-language book devoted to the artist.... Beginning with the notion of professional exceptionality . . . Sheriff reviews specific incidents, other art and literature of the period, and Vigie-Lebrun's portraits". -- Choice

"This is a challenging book about an important woman artist who has yet to receive the attention that she deserves.... This is the kind of mature, multifaceted, thoughtful scholarship that women artists have all too rarely inspired in the past, and that I hope will be applied to many more in the future". -- Ann Sutherland Harris, Women's Review of Books