Portrait of Mlle. Lange as Danaë

Anne-Louis Girodet painted Portrait of Mlle. Lange as Danaë around 1799, a second satirical portrait of the actress Anne Françoise Élisabeth Lange (his first had depicted her as Venus) that continued his vindictive exposure of the woman who had rejected his earlier straightforward portrait. Here he shows her as Danaë receiving the shower of gold from Jupiter — the gold coins that fall upon her representing both the mythological event and a pointed commentary on what he implied was her venality. The work caused a fresh scandal at the Salon of 1799, demonstrating Girodet's ability to deploy the mythological portrait format as a vehicle for personal satire.

Girodet employs his characteristically smooth, porcelain finish to create a gleaming surface that contrasts with the satirical content. The golden shower and mirror reflections create complex symbolic layers within an ostensibly classical mythological composition.