Charles-Melchior-Artus marquis de Bonchamps (1760-1793), général vendéen

Girodet's portrait of the Marquis de Bonchamps from 1816 commemorates the Vendéan royalist general who was fatally wounded at the Battle of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil in October 1793 but who, in his dying moments, ordered the release of five thousand Republican prisoners rather than allowing them to be massacred in reprisal. Bonchamps's mercy in death became one of the most celebrated acts of the Vendée conflict, and his portrait in the Restoration period honored a royalist martyr whose death in battle and final act of clemency had given him the status of a chivalric hero. Girodet's Restoration-period portraits of Vendéan leaders connected his practice to the royalist cultural politics of the Bourbon restoration.

The posthumous nature and political purpose of the portrait produce an idealized treatment that emphasizes noble bearing and martial virtue. Girodet's handling is formal and elevated, appropriate to a commemorative image that serves political rather than personal purposes. The military uniform and decorations are rendered with the precision required of such documentary portraiture.