In the late autumn of 1789, two of Europe's most celebrated painters met in Rome. One, Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss-born prodigy who had conquered the art scenes of London and Italy. The other, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, a Parisienne portraitist and favourite of the ancien regime, had just fled revolutionary France under threat of violence and scandal. Both were feted in their time, both were trailblazers in a male-dominated world – visionaries who helped define eighteenth-century art and feminism before the term existed.

This dual biography, framed within a thrilling story, restores these two extraordinary but unjustly overlooked figures to their rightful place in history. Set against a backdrop of revolution, empire and Enlightenment, it traces the dramatic lives and remarkable careers of Vigée Le Brun and Kauffman: artists who not only achieved unparalleled success and influence, but did so while pushing the boundaries of what women could be, both on canvas and in society.

With vivid storytelling, one of the most gifted living writers of artistic biography, Franny Moyle, reclaims their legacies. She examines how each artist navigated fame, scandal and exile; explores the relationships between them and their peers; and considers how they were caught up in the huge cultural cross-currents that were reshaping Europe.

Through their work and their lives, they spoke boldly to the roles of women in public life, highlighted the prejudices and abuses suffered by their sex, reimagined and celebrated the female subject and challenged the institutions that sought to contain them. Through them we encounter icons such as Marie Antoinette (whose portrait by Le Brun scandalised French society) and Catherine the Great, as well as cultural figures such as Emma Hamilton and Madame de Staël. The most notable men of their time – monarchs, statesman, aristocrats, artists and more – are also woven into the fabric of the tale.

MRS KAUFFMAN & MADAME LE BRUN is a timely, revelatory history that not only brings two forgotten artists into view, but rethinks the story of European art itself.