Explore the History of this artwork, Portrait of Mlle. Lange as Danae.
The artist Girodet and Miss Lange first crossed paths in the Salon of 1793. Girodet, a student of  Jacques-Louis David would gain notoriety for his submission Endymion. In 1793, Miss Lange was already a prominent actress and a sociétaire of the Comédie-Française. Her likeness as Sylvie by Jean-François Gilles Colson is in the same gallery of 1793.
Six years later (1798), as a gift to her newlywed husband, Michel-Jean Simons, Madame Simons commissioned a portrait from Girodet, who painted the actress as the Roman goddess Venus. Miss Lange disliked the painting so much that in a letter written to the artist, she requested that he remove the painting from the Paris Salon and offered only half of Girodet's asking price. Further, she wrote that his work compromised not only her reputation for beauty but his own as an up-and-coming  artist.
Furious, the 32-year old Girodet began work on a new painting of Mlle Lange in the guise of Danae. The painting is  deliberately encoded with hidden details about her intimate life, in an effort to defame her. On August 2, 1799,  Girodet exacted his revenge. After destroying the Venus by cutting it up into four pieces, Girodet directed the hanging of his new depiction of  Mlle. Lange as Danae in the Salon Carré., after working on it for 19 days.
Endymion Paris Salon Jacques-Louis David Michel-Jean Simons Danae Salon Carré Girodet Jean-François Gilles Colson Venus sociétaire of the Comédie-Française