Madame Récamier

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Coyly gazing downward, Madame Recamier discreetly shields a veil across her chest, skillfully concealing yet tantalizingly revealing her breasts. Master sculptor Joseph Chinard cleverly mitigates the artificiality of the bust form by elongating it to mid-torso and artfully draping the transition between body and pedestal, creating an astonishing work of naturalism. The softly molded limbs and delicate twists of her head and shoulders convincingly convey a living presence while her elegantly styled hairdo bespeaks Recamier's refined elegance. Juliette Recamier dazzled French Empire society with her breathtaking beauty and scandalous love affairs. Married at fifteen to a wealthy lawyer who may have been her biological father, she endured an unhappy, unconsummated marriage and embarked on numerous high-profile extramarital relationships, most notably with the Prussian Prince Augustus, the youngest brother of King Frederick II. In her opulent Parisian townhouse, she hosted a fashionable literary salon frequented by the city's most influential politicians and intellectuals. Many of the era's most accomplished portraitists captured her likeness in paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Chinard's terracotta bust, considered one of the most successful at capturing Recamier's spirit and beauty, was produced in multiple versions in both clay and marble.