The Colorist
Archive

A living archive of how artists work with color across time. Each artist profile scans publicly available works to trace dominant colors, a chromatic fingerprint, and the arc of a palette across a lifetime.A living archive of how artists work with color across time, tracing palettes, fingerprints, and lifetime arcs from public works.

Begin with an artist, carry a palette into the drawing system, or read the wider project.Begin with an artist, carry a palette into the drawing system, or read the wider project.

Scanning works…

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Vigée Le Brun's portraits shimmer with aristocratic refinement. Her palette of soft white, sky blue, and rosy flesh captures ancien régime elegance at its most luminous.

Palette: #26221A #524F47 #AB8865 #735737 #878379 #D1BB93 #B06A35 #472D15

  • Comtesse de la Châtre (Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé Bontemps, 1762-1848) (1789): #232019 #C9C5B4 #403E34 #07110C #9E9A88 #120D08
  • Alexandre Charles Emmanuel de Crussol-Florensac (1787): #725F47 #4B4033 #0A0A0A #1B1B16 #34281D #B37E67
  • Madame Grand (Noël Catherine Vorlée, 1761-1835) (1783): #0E0D0A #CFB287 #272216 #6E4E2E #A27D53 #2E352B
  • Julie le Brun (1780-1819) Looking in a Mirror (1787): #312618 #4D412A #1E1F11 #968567 #64371A #656148
  • Allegory of Poetry (1774): #C8B8A6 #4A4338 #807462 #252421 #7C5F45 #120F0D
  • André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry, Musicien (1785): #353228 #1B1E17 #A37E53 #534B3C #796A52 #785633
  • Anna Stroganova Vigée Lebrun (8 No): #2E2A28 #996337 #6E6155 #C8B9A0 #4C312C #AE977C
  • Countess Anna Potocka (1791): #100B0C #6A5E58 #533636 #2B1A1C #7C878A #3F2728
  • Antoinette-Elisabeth-Marie d'Aguesseau, Countess of Ségur (1785): #514E44 #25221B #391C14 #674226 #BEA483 #313734
  • Innocence Takes Refuge in the Arms of Justice (1779): #97908D #C8BDB1 #A18069 #6F6B69 #765547 #4C4948
  • Self-Portrait: #2C261D #151310 #513F33 #9B8477 #BBAB9B #74665A
  • Portrait of Mrs. Chinnery (1803): #1D251A #992A1B #32341A #C7A170 #A17448 #C4BC97
  • Portrait of Princess Belozersky (1798): #352213 #221912 #BDAC9C #130F0B #846039 #A4856D
  • Portrait of Élisabeth de France (1764-94): #514639 #B4AA9B #7E796A #352D25 #997862 #7B5541
  • Portrait of Madame Royale and Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (1784): #282B23 #3B3928 #67542F #9F8E60 #CDC6A7 #7C7C68
  • Portrait of Marie Gabrielle de Gramont, Duchesse de Caderousse (1784): #676356 #876535 #261E17 #DD4D2F #ECCC7B #D7A854
  • Saint Genevieve (1821): #AEB1BB #918D92 #08080C #2E2317 #554D34 #6C645E
  • Princess Youssoupoff (1797): #4A3B2C #745D44 #A54422 #E2C08B #72351B #AF8F65
  • Portrait of Comtesse de Cérès (1784): #121111 #26272A #3D3B3F #B37D32 #5D5A60 #DBC5B8
  • Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia (1802): #8F745C #0D1820 #E7C7AD #C86548 #366786 #9A9A91

The Palette

The Works

How the palette changed

Chromatic Comparison

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