Portrait of Juliette Récamier (1777-1849).

David's second portrait of Juliette Récamier of around 1810, painted in Brussels exile, returned to the legendary beauty who had been the subject of his famous unfinished 1800 canvas — a second attempt at the image he had abandoned a decade earlier after a quarrel with the sitter. By 1810 Récamier was in her thirties and Madame de Staël's closest companion, and David's new portrait approaches her with the warmth of mature appreciation rather than the competitive ambition of his earlier attempt.

This later version shows Recamier in a more conventional portrait format than the revolutionary chaise longue composition of the Louvre painting. The rendering is polished and precise, with the famous beauty's features captured in David's characteristically clear, analytical style.