Joseph Chinard

This marble bust, which belonged to its subject, Juliette Récamier, captures her youth and beauty. Her hair is curled and upswept in the style of the Greek goddess Psyche, representing the French ideal of female elegance during the Napoleonic era.

Madame Récamier is celebrated for hosting important intellectual conversations at her Paris salon after the French Revolution and during the rise of Napoléon I. Married as a teenager to a man nearly 30 years older, she lived a privileged social life. Her primary interest was encouraging the exchange of ideas between artists, philosophers, politicians, and partisans of both the French monarchy and First Empire.