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Portrait of Madame Récamier
Jacques-Louis David · Rococo & Neoclassicism
- Artist
- Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825)
- Date
- 1800
- Dimensions
- 174 x 244 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
This portrait shows Juliette Récamier, one of the most celebrated beauties and hostesses of Paris, reclining barefoot on an antique-style couch in a simple white dress, turning her head towards the viewer.
A closer look
David placed her in an almost empty, sober space with only a tall bronze lamp and a low stool, all in the fashionable 'Etruscan' style inspired by antiquity. The long horizontal format and the elegant curve of her body against the couch create a calm harmony. The painting was never finished: Madame Récamier, reportedly impatient with David's slow pace, commissioned a portrait from his pupil François Gérard, and David refused to continue. Yet its unfinished background, sketched in brown, adds to its modern simplicity.
