The portrait Marie Antoinette en Chemise by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun was viewed as scandalously improper in its reception at the Salon of 1783 ... This debut for Vigée Le Brun as a member of the Academy was noteworthy not only in that she was a woman receiving this honor but also for the response her submissions elicited. The negative reaction to the portrait prompted its removal soon after the Salon opened.

Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842) was not admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture without incident. Her initial attempt to become a member of the Académie was unsuccessful ... Vigée-Lebrun was eventually admitted on 31 May 1783, by order of the king, presumably at the insistence of her close friend and benefactor, Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Vigée-Lebrun certainly had reason to look back fondly on these years in Russia, where she lived from 1795 to 1801. Despite her émigré status, she enjoyed numerous professional accomplishments while there. It is estimated that during this period Vigée-Lebrun produced close to seventy portraits, developing a professional practice similar to the one she had established in Paris. As in Paris, she catered to a clientele that included members of both the nobility and the royal family. Vigée-Lebrun was supremely prosperous during a period when many émigrés throughout Europe were struggling with their status as political exiles.