Madame Bocquet with a green shawl

Madame Bocquet, wearing a green shawl that gives the portrait its distinguishing description, sits for Girodet in this 1804 work formerly in the Château de Villepreux collection. The colored shawl was an essential accessory in Napoleonic-era female fashion, draped over the high-waisted Empire dresses that had replaced pre-Revolutionary styles. Girodet's careful rendering of such fashion details makes his portraits valuable documents of early nineteenth-century material culture.

The green shawl provides the dominant color note, its rich fabric rendered with attention to texture and drape. Girodet balances this strong chromatic element with the more subdued tones of the dress and background. His handling of the face demonstrates characteristic precision, with the warm flesh tones complementing the cool green of the shawl.