Misha Glenny

speaker

1,394 appearances 20 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 4d ago

Misha Glenny’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 20 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 6.

Appearances

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In Our Time · Vigée Le Brun · 23 Jul 2026 podcast

Some claimed Vigée Le Brun's paintings were so good only because a man must be finishing them for her, while some were affronted that she, a young woman, dared to paint at all. voice-verified

Yet Vigée Le Brun was indomitable, journeying from one European court to another after the French Revolution, and today her works are on show in major galleries around the world. voice-verified

With me to discuss Vigée Le Brun are Rosalind Polly Blakesley, Master of Pembroke College and Professor of Russian and European Art at the University of Cambridge, voice-verified

Francesca Whitlam Cooper, can you give us a bit about Vigée Le Brun's background? voice-verified

Take us back to Paris in the second half of the 18th century. voice-verified

So she is encouraged by her father but what opportunities are there for young women who have a talent for painting? voice-verified

So she starts her career at a relatively young age. voice-verified

But Polly Blakesley, how on earth does she become the portraitist for Marie Antoinette, her main portraitist? voice-verified

Just out of interest, how on earth did Marie-Therese in far-off Vienna get to hear of somebody like Vigée Libre? voice-verified

Yes, one thing I noticed about the early portraits of Marie Antoinette is I thought I could still detect the Habsburg jaw and the droopy lip, which seemed to disappear a little over time. voice-verified

We don't go in for portraits nowadays quite so much. voice-verified

Of course, we photograph everything we see. voice-verified

So why was the portrait so high stakes for both the sitter and the artist? voice-verified

Thank you, Polly. voice-verified

Robert Wenley, she painted women much more than she painted men. voice-verified

Why was that? voice-verified

She was making a successful living. voice-verified

Is that the case? voice-verified

How did the market work for her? voice-verified

Francesca Whitlam Cooper, the National Gallery has a famous self-portrait of her in a straw hat. voice-verified

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