Portrait de Madame Récamier (David)

Overview

The Portrait de Madame Récamier (1800) by Jacques-Louis David shows Juliette Récamier (1777-1849), the banker's wife and salon hostess, reclining barefoot on a classical couch in a plain white high-waisted dress, in a bare room. David left the portrait unfinished; it is in the Musée du Louvre (INV 3708). The Directoire / Empire costume and the daybed (the récamier) became the emblem of the age. (Sources: Musée du Louvre; Wikimedia Commons file records.)

Marie and the Récamier costume

For Marie « en Récamier » means the white, high-waisted, Directoire dress. On 17 January 1880 she wears it at a party: white crêpe de Chine with a peplum trimmed with silver fringe and a garland of white roses (087.0246); on 3 May 1880 she wears the « costume Récamier » again to success (088.0082). On 27 April 1880 she begins a portrait of a young American, who « ressemble à Mme Récamier »: Marie turns up the hair « à la Psyché » and puts her in a short-sleeved batiste chemise with a pink ribbon under the breast and a straw-coloured scarf (088.0028); on 22 April 1881 she finishes the portrait of Brisbane « en Récamier » (091.0504, with a reader footnote; the sitter is probably Alice Brisbane). At a costume party on 21 April 1883 she is « très jolie en Récamier, on m'a posée comme le portrait de David » (099.0167, footnote 099.0157).

Related

The person stub Récamier (people/mentioned) covers the sitter; this entry supersedes it for the portrait mentions only.