The Viewer of "Self Portrait with Two Pupils"

In the painting, Labille-Guiard is in the process of painting a portrait. But of whom? She stares directly into the viewer’s eyes, her body angled toward the viewer. Her canvas is cleverly angled away from the viewer, so we can never see who or what she paints. The glint in her eyes suggests, though, that we are her subject. One of her students looks at us as well, as if she is trying to understand how her teacher is able to perfectly capture our likeness. While today’s viewer of Self Portrait with Two Students might not flinch at the idea of having their portrait painted by a woman, the men attending the Salon in 1785 would have shuddered.