Portrait of Madame Adélaide Pastoret

David painted Portrait of Madame Adélaïde Pastoret around 1791, a portrait from the period of the Revolution that shows his mature portraiture style applied to a woman of the educated Parisian upper bourgeoisie. The composition's restraint — the dark background, the simple dress, the direct gaze — reflects both David's Neoclassical preference for compositional economy and the changing social values of the Revolutionary period, where the display of aristocratic opulence was dangerous and the democratic virtues of simplicity were fashionable. The psychological concentration of the portrait makes it one of his finest female portraits.

David renders the sitter with the penetrating naturalism of his mature portrait style, using a restricted palette and plain background. The unfinished areas of the canvas suggest the painting may have been interrupted by the accelerating Revolutionary events.