The Comtesse Daru

Through Napoleon's reign, David spent most of his effort on enormous propaganda, above all the Coronation, a canvas the size of a wall showing Napoleon crowning Josephine. Getting paid for it was another matter, and it was Comte Daru, one of the emperor's administrators, who finally forced the money loose. In 1810 David painted this portrait of Daru's wife, Alexandrine, as a surprise gift for the husband. She was in her mid-twenties and already the mother of six. He sat her in a mahogany chair with little gilded sphinxes on the arms, a fashion of the moment, and gave her closed fan and pale gown the same close attention he usually saved for emperors.