Jacques Louis David painted the Portrait of Madame Récamier, oil on canvas, (68.50 inches × 88.58 inches) in 1800 of the Parisian socialite Juliette Récamier who was considered a celebrated French beauty; some would say she was the most beautiful and graceful woman of her day. This portrait which showed her dressed in the traditional style and sitting on a sofa in an otherwise bare background had taken the art world by storm and was extremely avant-garde for that era. The lady is dressed in a white antique-style sleeveless dress and is barefoot and gracefully reclined on a meridienne with her head turned towards the viewer.

The painting was never completed for unknown reasons and it remained in David’s studio unfinished and was only seen by the public when it was acquired by the Louvre Museum where it is still on display. — M.I.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 22nd, 2015

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