Portrait of Madame Récamier

Portrait of Madame Récamier is an 1800 portrait of the Parisian socialite Juliette Récamier by Jacques-Louis David showing her in the height of Neoclassical fashion, reclining on a Directoire style sofa in a simple Empire line dress with almost bare arms, and short hair "à la Titus."

Portrait of Madame Récamier
Artist	Jacques-Louis David
Year	1800
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	174 cm × 224 cm (68.50 in × 88.58 in)
Location	Louvre, Paris

Background

David began it in May 1800 but may have left it unfinished when he learned that François Gérard had been commissioned before him to paint a portrait of the same model (Gerard's portrait was completed in 1802); on the other hand many David portraits have the same bare background. The pose of a reclining figure looking back over her shoulder was adopted in 1814 by Ingres for his Grande Odalisque. It is now in the Louvre.[1]

In Creatures in an Alphabet, Djuna Barnes wrote of the subject as:

The Seal, she lounges like a bride,

Much too docile, there's no doubt;
Madame Récamier, on side,

(if such she has), and bottom out.[2]

René Magritte also parodied David's painting in his own Perspective: Madame Récamier by David, showing a coffin reclining, now in the National Gallery of Canada.[3]

References

1. "Madame Récamier". Louvre. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
2. Barnes, Djuna (1982). Creatures in an Alphabet. ISBN 978-0385277976.
3. "catalogue entry". NGC. Archived from the original on 13 October 2006.