Who am I? In their life-writing, Enlightenment women un consciously depict themselves. This miracle is soon explained when it is revealed to her that she is standing in front of a mirror 1. She thus comes face to face with her own appearance for the very first time. Her description to Aza of the human figure she glimpsed is, in fact, a self-portrait.
We should note what this reveals about interior decoration at the time: the proliferation of mirrors, and the increasing opportunities thus afforded to people to see themselves. But, let us not get ahead of ourselves.
I will consider a variety of cases: from physical to psychological portrayals, from direct to allusive depictions, and even examples of self-effacement. In the process, I shall suggest a possible typology.
And, I will mention a certain number of analogies with painted portraiture along the way. Thus, the memoirs, unfinished at the time of her death in โ completed and subsequently published by her daughter โ aimed to set the record straight and to depict Mary Robinson as a virtuous woman, and a victim of circumstances.
Aware of the importance of her image, the author went out of her way to describe herself repeatedly dressed in outfits that were widely imitated in her heyday. At the time when she was a fashionable young woman, Mary Robinson was eager to live in the limelight, to be at the centre of attention, making use of the experience she had gained on the stage. Revisiting her youth through writing, she repeated this tactic, but now the emphasis was how, though absent, she could influence others โ a change from the clear and present impact she had wanted to make in her younger days.
