Here, the artist’s daughter Julie (1780–1819) represents Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, to symbolize youthful beauty. The flowing drapery was inspired by Greco-Roman attire. Vigée-Lebrun spent four years in Italy. She lived for a time in Naples, near the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which fueled the imaginations of many artists during this period. The landscape here recalls the area’s mountainous coastline.

Vigée-Lebrun was one of the few women elected to the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (1783). Patronized by Queen Marie-Antoinette throughout the 1780s, Vigée-Lebrun fled France following the Revolution of 1789.  From Italy, she traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, where this work was created. There, Julie met and married a man of whom her mother deeply disapproved, shattering their close relationship. This is perhaps the last of many paintings she made of Julie.