Vigée Le Brun's Home Page | Index to Art Pages | Vigée Le Brun's Gallery ART PAGE 51 Giovanni Battista Viotti - 1805 oil on canvas From the Royal Academy of Music Museum publication: "Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824) was regarded as the outstanding solo violinist of his generation. He owned two Stradivari violins. One was a gift from Catherine the Great. Due to the response of his concert performances with his Stradivari violins they became the soloist's instruments of choice." One of his Stradivari violins is in the Royal Academy of Music Museum in London. The 1709 "Viotti ex-Bruce" Stradivari is named after him. Read the story about Viotti and his 1709 Stradivari, Cremona. His other Stradivari is now in a collection in Taiwan. He was a good friend of Vigée Le Brun and is mentioned in her Memoirs in Chapter 3 and Chapter 17. Read his Biography. Philippe Henri, Marquis de Ségur - 1789 oil on panel Versailles Lived 1724-1801, appointed minister of war in 1780, maréchal de France in 1783. Marquise de Montesson - 1779 Pastel on paper mounted on canvas 81.4 x 65 cm Louvre Museum Paris Charlotte Jeanne Béraud de la Haye de Riou, marquise de Montesson (1738-1806) lived in a big beautiful private mansion in Chaussee d Antin street where from 1785, she received her friends, intellectuals, artists and comedians. She enjoyed theater and wrote one play. She finally married with Duke of Orleans, on Page 105 and Page 194, the father of Philippe duc de Chartres. Mme de Montesson spent time in chateau du Raincy, near Paris, and she had sympathy for the liberal ideas. View additional images of Mme Montesson on Page 159, Page 168 and Page 194 . Vigée Le Brun's Home Page | Index to Art Pages | Vigée Le Brun's Gallery