Mademoiselle Lange as Venus

Girodet was Jacques-Louis David's favourite pupil. The sense of the mysterious and poetic that he shows in many of his works is what many call the Romantic spirit, although it was already latent in Neoclassicism. Girodet sensed the coming direction in an early stage, although he had been trained to be a Neoclassicist by David.

Girodet depicted the actress Mademoiselle Lange as Venus, standing on her couch, her face turned from the viewer. In the mirror that Cupid is holding up to her, the painter, who delighted in hidden references, has shown only one ear. When the actress expressed her annoyance at the painting, Girodet painted her again, this time in mythological form, Mademoiselle Lange as Danaë.

The toilet of Venus is a timeless theme of sensuous seduction. You can view other depictions of Venus at Her Toilet in the Web Gallery of Art.