Louise-Élisabeth VIGÉE-LEBRUN (1756-1842). Autograph manuscript 1 page fol. and 2 pages in-12 (engraved portrait attached). Draft for her Memoirs, about Madame du Barry. This first draft manuscript, with erasures and corrections, contains variants with the published text: Souvenirs de Madame Vigée Le Brun (Charpentier, 1869, tome I, letter X, p. 108-114). Madame Vigée-Lebrun recounts her stays at Louveciennes with the exiled Countess, of whom she painted three portraits. "Before the Revolution I had been to Lucienne to paint Mme du Barry. I was very curious to see this woman of whom I had heard so much, she could have been about 45 years old, her face was still charming, her features regular and graceful; her look was that of a coquette, for her slightly elongated eyes, almost not open, gave her the air of a girl; her complexion was only beginning to fade. Her hair was light ash, like a child's, and curled in the same way. She was nicely plump, with a slightly thick throat, but still beautiful; she was tall without being too tall. She received me with grace; I found her spirit more natural than her manners". She remembers that in the evenings, alone by the fire, she would talk to him about Louis XV and his Court with respect and gentleness: "she was by no means mean in her actions or in her words". She took great care of the needy, and Mme Vigée remembers the Countess's fury at the destitution of a poor woman in childbirth whose attendants had not followed her orders: After dinner, they drank coffee to the sound of musicians in the sumptuous pavilion where she once dined with the King. Vigée-Lebrun describes the exquisite taste of the ornaments, the magnificent view and the richness of the furnishings. Vigée-Lebrun described the exquisite taste in ornamentation, the magnificent view and the rich furnishings. They left Mr de Brissac there to take his siesta: "He seemed to me to be the friend of Mme du Barri, nothing between them gave me reason to think otherwise"... She returned to paint it again in mid-September 1789: "We could hear the endless cannonade. The Revolution was making strong headway! She used to say to me, if Louis XV had surely lived, all this would not have happened", etc. Although she had only painted the head and traced the silhouette, Mme Vigée had to make a trip to Paris, where "I saw so many frightening things that I did not return to Lucienne, I left this portrait that I now have at home and for which I am going to finish dressing. The first portrait of Mme du Barry I painted her in a bathrobe, with a straw hat. The 2nd portrait was for the Duc de Brissac and she is painted in white satin with her arm resting on a pedestal...