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Fig. 1
ditional Davidian formula for portraits assis, in which (Fig. 1). Raymond de Sèze had been one of the
a tight, formal composition, often placing the sitter defence council for Louis XVI. Girodet had painted
at the front of the picture plane, is balanced with a the portrait in 1806, but it was first exhibited eight
subtle and sensitive approach to physiognomy. Like years later, when, in an effort to declare his support
Girodet, Saint-Victor was an ardent royalist and his of the Bourbon Restoration, Girodet included it in
portrait almost mirrors that of the Comte de Sèze his selection for the Salon of 18141 where it hung
1. Paris, Salon 1814, no. 441.
2. Paris, Salon 1814, nos. 442 and 443. For a concise discussion of Girodet’s often complex royalist sympathies, see S. Bellanger, op. cit., pp. 34-35; and
S. Guégan, op. cit., pp. 116-118.
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