Jacques-Louis David. Portrait of a Woman




Madame Recamier, oil on canvas, 1800, Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
This is a case where a comparison will give a good idea of how differently the same subject was handled by Jacques-Louis David and one of his numerous pupils. David started the portrait of Madame Recamier in 1800 which was never finished. (However, incidentally, this portrait helped a contemporary item of furniture to become known under her name.) When the master learned that the lady had also commissioned his pupil Gerard to paint her, he is said to have refused any further service.
In David's portrait, noble simplicity, expressed by the simple dress and the Spartan decoration, is also eloquent in the open face. This might well appear more to the modern viewer than Gйrard's version, which was judged to be more representative and flattering at the time. And comparisons with portraits of Madame Rйcamier by other artists suggest that Gйrard had achieved a better likeness than David. The Spartan severity of David's composition, the Neoclassical sparseness of the arrangement, the cool handling of the room, the distanced pose, with the lady turning her shoulder to the viewer, were all elements with which Neoclassicism had operated for long enough.
Gerard, by contrast, sets the lady in a noble park loggia, where she seems to be inviting to conversation. Her low-cut bodice is seductive, the red curtain flatters the subject and gives the flesh a rosy tint. Where David gave the beautiful woman a rather severe touch around the mouth, Gйrard embellishes her features with the hint of a gentle smile, making her look younger. By contrast, David's portrait in the antique manner looks rather forced. Perhaps these were the reasons why his painting was never finished. Madame Recamier gave Gerard's portrait of her to her admirer Prince Augustus of Prussia, a nephew of Frederick II, who had met the French beauty at the salon of Madame de Stael. For state reasons a marriage was impossible, but in the painting Madame Recamier was ever present in the palace which Schinkel furnished for the Prince in 1817.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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Portrait of Madame Seriziat and her Son, oil on canvas, 1795,
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

Portrait of the Countess Vilain XIIII and her Daughter, oil on canvas, 1816,
The National Gallery, London, UK

Portrait of Marguerite-Charlotte David, oil on canvas, 1813,
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

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The J. Paul Getty Museum , Malibu, CA, USA

Portrait of Marie-Francoise Buron, oil on canvas, 1769,
Musee National des Beaux-Arts, Algiers

Portrait of the Marquise d'Orvilliers, oil on canvas, 1790,
Musee du Louvre, Paris, France

Portrait of Genevieve Jacqueline Pecoul, oil on canvas, 1784,
Musee du Louvre, Paris, France

Portrait of Countess Daru, oil on canvas, 1810
The Frick Collection, New York, USA

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The Matthiesen Gallery, New York

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Musee du Louvre, Paris, France

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The Art Institute of Chicago

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Musee du Louvre, Paris, France

Self Portrait, oil on canvas, 1794, Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
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