Explore the Background of this artwork.
Madame Juliette Récamier was a Neoclassical French icon, salon hostess, and influential Parisian socialite in elite French circles of the time. Wife of a French banker and daughter of a banker from Lyon, she was considered to be among the most beautiful socialites of her time. She was rarely seen without an entourage of male suitors. and was renowned for both her wit and romantic affairs. The esteemed French poet and dramatist Théophile Gautier wrote of her "indescribable attraction, like the poetry of the unknown". Prominent authors, such as Mme. de Stael, modeled some of her protagonists on Récamier.
It was at the age of 23 that she began to model for various artists of the early 19th century in France, including David. Her likeness was captured in David's Neoclassical portrait, yet was abandoned, much to the subject's dismay. Originally, he intended to capture not only her appearance, but also the ideals of femininity and charm. David began the painting in May 1800 but may have left it unfinished when he learned that Récamier, having grown impatient with David, commissioned his student François Gérard to paint her portrait (Gerard's portrait was completed in 1805). David's painting was acquired by the Louvre in 1826, over twenty years after it was begun. Yet it was warmly welcomed, and according to Scottish painter and art critic, D.S. MacColl, "from 1826 his unfinished Madame Recamier has spoken for something better in the Louvre, and since then a whole series of portraits have accrued which will prove his lasting security when 'Horatii,’ 'Sabines,’ and the rest have gone the dusty way to respectable oblivion".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.
Djuna Barnes Gerard's portrait François Gérard D.S. MacColl Madame Juliette Récamier Théophile Gautier Louvre Juliette Récamier Recamier Paris Mme. de Stael