Portrait de Theresia Cabarrus (1773-1835), épouse Tallien, puis princesse de Caraman-Chimay

François Gérard painted this portrait of Thérésia Cabarrus in 1805, depicting one of the most politically significant women of the Revolutionary and Directoire period. Cabarrus had been imprisoned during the Terror and was freed after Thermidor, becoming known as Notre-Dame de Thermidor. She married the powerful politician Jean-Lambert Tallien and later separated from him, eventually marrying the Prince of Caraman-Chimay. Gérard was the leading portraitist of the Napoleonic period, successor to David's dominance, and this portrait of a woman whose life had intersected so dramatically with the events of the Revolution carries the full weight of that historical resonance. The Musée Carnavalet, the museum of Parisian history, holds the canvas, giving it a specifically historical rather than purely artistic context — this is a document as much as a painting.

Gérard's portraiture combines neoclassical clarity of form with the warmth and elegance that made him the most sought-after portraitist of the Napoleonic court. The flesh is modelled smoothly and luminously, the dress rendered with attention to material quality. The composition is elegant and balanced, the sitter presented with dignity appropriate to her complex social position.