Ancient Studies Laura Auricchio is an art historian teaching at the Parsons School for Design as part of The New School in New York City. In the piece to be critiqued, Auricchio focuses upon techniques, styles, and subject matter of eighteenth century paintings. Auricchio's focus in her article is upon the female painter, Adelaide Labille-Guiard. Though Auricchio examines several of Labille-Guiard's major works, her primary examination is of the painting Self-Portrait with Two Students (1785). Auricchio argues that Labille-Guiard makes deliberate politically motivated choices in content and composition in the painting that express and reflect upon European female artistry and experience of the eighteenth century. This paper will briefly describe and critique Auricchio's main ideas and themes in her interpretation of the work and of the artist.

Auricchio, as an art historian and as a woman, is interested in female artists. She is interested in female artists primarily because their work and their experiences have been intentionally overlooked, dismissed, and omitted from historical records. Auricchio researches female artists because they exist; their knowledge of their existence could inspire artists both female and male. Her ambition is more historical than art related. Nonetheless, French art in the eighteenth century was vibrant. Women painters and visual artists contributed to the vibrancy of this movement. As part of her quest to understand life in eighteenth century Paris, Auricchio studies the histories and bodies of work by female artists of the time. Adding...

Auricchio's interest in the subject and the painting inform the tone of the entire article.
Auricchio begins her writing by creating a portrait of the artist, Adelaide Labille-Guiard, and by creating a sense of the context within which the artist presented the painting. Labille-Guiard had several very rich patrons. Her art was supported by well-connected and wealthy persons. She chose to present this painting as a part of her inaugural exhibit at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (Aurricchio, 2007) Auricchio believes that Adelaide Labille-Guiard plays with the idea of what is appropriate for women in the painting Self-Portrait with Two Students. All art is a kind of reflection of the real world or distortion of what the real world could be. Perhaps Adelaide imagined a world where women experience more respect and then she created that painting.

Auricchio continues her discussion of Self-Portrait with Two Students by describing various audiences reacted to the painting. She first describes the short history of audience reactions to Adelaide's work in general. Then, when she focuses on the one painting, she adds more details about what people thought when they saw the painting. There were a lot of mixed reviews and feelings. Some people were shocked at the power, sexuality, and commerce associated with women that the painting suggests. Other people were not shocked; they were bored or confused. Auricchio thinks that…