Abstract
During her lifetime, Juliette Récamier (1777-1849) was widely considered as the most beautiful woman in France. Within the country’s post-revolutionary Directory and Consulate epoch, Récamier ran a salon that boasted prominent political figures and writers among its frequent guests. Récamier’s own legacy however is one of seemingly total passivity: praise aside, the impression we are left with is one of placid docility. Récamier was greatly admired, yet incapable of articulating her own thoughts and ideas. This article examines François Gérard’s portrait of Récamier. At the time, Gérard (1770-1837) was one of the period’s most successful artists, whose services Napoléon would request for his coronation portrait in 1805. Gérard’s work leads to this study’s argument that the articulation and presentation of self image in the early nineteenth century was no less layered and complex than the creation of material images. In fact, it illustrates just how much Gérard’s portrait is an image of her making as much as it is of his. We see such agency further mediated in Récamier’s shawl dance, a performative staple of the soirées she hosted. Imbuing the artistic virtues associated with neoclassical dress with the passion, sensuality, and individualistic nature of dance; this article considers Récamier’s self-fashioning on a stage exclusively within her salon.
Highlights
In the smile which so often separates her lips of rose, you might perceive the innocent joy of a young and ravishing creature, happy to please and be loved, who saw nothing but bliss in nature, and answered the salutation of love which met her on all sides, by an expression of silent benevolence
Following a visit to Paris, British politician Charles James Fox reiterated this idea, describing the salonnière as ‘the work of a Deity on a holiday’: ‘how sweet she is! What a smile! What a glance!’2 This is the same Récamier that critics and art historians saw in Francois Gérard’s portrait ( g. ), a painting of the twenty- ve-year-old reclining on a chaise longue
Récamier had a powerful impact in post-revolutionary French history and art, participating in the promulgation of neoclassical fashion in Europe at the very peak of its popularity
Summary
In the smile which so often separates her lips of rose, you might perceive the innocent joy of a young and ravishing creature, happy to please and be loved, who saw nothing but bliss in nature, and answered the salutation of love which met her on all sides, by an expression of silent benevolence.1. The public image: Madame Récamier and François Gérard Observing post-Thermidorian society in Paris, Susan Siegfried noted a striking feature: ‘Women indirectly exerting political in uence through their social relations, their youth, their beauty, and their seduction, dominate the public scene’.4 Considering this period of transition, Amy Freund’s work is useful for understanding the lens through which such women saw themselves.
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