text: Switzerland in 1807 In July 1807, the artist crossed to Switzerland, arriving first at the town of Basel, where she was received by M. Ethinger, a local banker, who threw a banquet to welcome the artist. She proceeded to Biel on the advice of Ethinger, but the roads there were so hazardous that part of the journey had to be made on foot. After recuperating in Biel for a single day, she proceeded to the tiny Île Saint-Pierre to visit the home of Rousseau, which she found, to her great surprise and dismay, had become a tavern. Vigée Le Brun praised the picturesque countryside repeatedly in her letters to Countess Vincent Potocka. After departing the island to return to Biel, she went on to Berne, where she was received by the wife of the Landamann (magistrate), Mme. de Watteville, and the General Ambassador Honoré Vial. She also met the seven-months pregnant Mme. de Brac, who accompanied her to Thun, and then to the Lauterbrunnen Valley, which she found dark and grim due to its being hidden from sunlight on both sides by steep mountains. On her descent, she and her company encountered a group of local shepherdesses; the beauty and naivete of the local people and the wilderness where the encounter took place made her liken the experience to something out of Arabian Nights. She went on to visit the Staubbach Falls in the valley.
  After traversing the rugged trails of the valley, she returned to Berne via Brientz, and then arrived at Schaffhausen where she was received by the local Burgomeister, who took her to see the Rhine Falls. After departing from Schaffhausen, she visited the city of Zürich, where she enjoyed the hospitality of General Baron de Salis.