Jacques-Louis David
Portrait of Madame Récamier
From $80
This painting is white silk, scarlet velvet and glass, and a cheap copy turns it flat and muddy. Our David Lavoisier portrait print is made from the museum’s own photograph, unretouched, so the glass and silk stay bright.
Stretched canvas. Printed on cotton canvas and stretched taut over a frame. The edges are mirror-wrapped, so the picture continues around the sides and none of it is lost to the fold.
Framed canvas. The same canvas, set in a black, white, natural wood or dark wood frame 0.83 in deep. The frame gives the work a finished edge and a little more presence on the wall.
Framed print. Printed on fine art matte paper and framed in solid pine, behind shatterproof plexiglass, in black, white, natural wood or dark wood. It arrives ready to hang. Framed sizes are measured on the outside of the frame.
Fine art print. Printed on 310gsm fine art matte paper, for framing your own way. It travels rolled and protected. From 18x24 inch.
12x16 inch, 18x24 inch, 30x40 inch. Framed sizes are measured on the outside of the frame, so the visible painting is a little smaller.
Its tall shape suits a study, a hallway or a living room wall. The whites, reds and golds look rich with cream, slate and walnut, and a gold or black frame suits it.
About the painting
Jacques-Louis David, the leading painter of Neoclassical France, painted for Louis XVI, sat in the Revolution’s Convention, became Napoleon’s painter and died in exile in Brussels.
Antoine Lavoisier, the great chemist, writes at a red table of glass instruments. His wife Marie-Anne, his collaborator, stands above him with a hand on his shoulder.
She paid David 7,000 livres in 1788. In 1789 the Salon would not show it, for fear of the crowd. Lavoisier was guillotined in 1794.
A man sits at a table covered in red velvet, writing with a quill. Around him are glass flasks, a bell jar and scientific instruments. Beside him stands his wife in a white dress, one hand on his shoulder, looking straight at us.
He is Antoine Lavoisier, the great French chemist. She is Marie-Anne Lavoisier, his wife and his collaborator. She had been taught to draw by Jacques-Louis David, and in 1788 she commissioned this portrait from him. He was paid seven thousand livres, more than the king had paid him for a history painting.
Scans by the Metropolitan Museum have shown that David first painted them very differently: as a fashionable, wealthy couple, Marie-Anne in a large, elegant hat, with none of the scientific instruments at all. They were added later.
The portrait was meant for the Salon of 1789, but it was not allowed to be shown. Lavoisier was a tax collector for the old regime, and the authorities feared the crowd. Five years later, in 1794, he was guillotined.
Portrait of Antoine and Marie-Anne Lavoisier. Jacques-Louis David, 1788.
Faithful to the original, and made to be felt on your wall.
We compare every work with the original as we grade it, keeping the artist’s colours true while bringing back their depth and glow. Every mark stays the artist’s own.
Printed to order on cotton canvas or fine art paper, then framed if you chose a frame, in 1 to 3 business days.
It arrives 5 to 12 business days later, tracked and free anywhere in the US. Framed pieces come ready to hang.
No. The original hangs in a museum. What you receive is a fine art reproduction, remastered from the original and printed for you, with every mark where the artist left it.
This is where most reproductions disappoint, and it is where we spend the most time. Each work is graded side by side with the original: faithful to the artist’s colours, with the depth and warmth brought back, so it moves you on the wall the way it was meant to. Canvas reads a touch softer than a backlit screen, and every screen shows colour a little differently.
Each size is a standard frame size, so we fit the painting by trimming a little from its edges. We never stretch or squash it, and we check every size by eye so no face, figure or signature is cut. On canvas the edges are mirror-wrapped, which keeps the whole picture on the front.
Aim for about two-thirds the width of the furniture beneath it. Over a sofa or a sideboard, one of the two largest sizes will hold the wall. The size guide lists every size in inches and centimetres, with the kind of wall each one suits.
Your piece is printed in 1–3 business days, then spends 5–12 business days in transit, tracked all the way. Delivery is free anywhere in the US. We are unable to deliver to PO boxes.
Send us a photograph and we will remake it and send it again. There is nothing to return.
Yes, within 30 days of delivery. Our returns policy has the details.
Printed to order
Graded against the original, then printed for you on cotton canvas or fine art paper in 1–3 business days.
The whole painting
Every mark is the artist’s own, and canvas edges are mirror-wrapped so the whole picture stays on the front.
Free US shipping
On every order, tracked, 5–12 business days in transit.
30-day returns
Returns and exchanges within 30 days of delivery.