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Portrait of Madame Tallien

Jean-Bernard Duvivier

European Art

Jean-Bernard Duvivier emphasized the status of his fashionable sitter with a careful rendering of her furnishings and accessories, including velvet cushions and draperies, an inlaid wood settee, and a rare paisley cashmere shawl. Madame Tallien directly experienced the dramatic events of 1789 to 1804, during the French Revolution and its aftermath. She urged her second husband—Jean-Lambert Tallien, a rising political star—to end the Reign of Terror, the Revolution’s bloodiest episode.
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
  • Place Made: Europe
  • DATES 1806
    DIMENSIONS 49 1/2 x 36 3/4 in. (125.7 x 93.3 cm) Frame: 57 x 44 1/4 x 3 3/4 in. (144.8 x 112.4 x 9.5 cm)  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed and dated lower left: "J.B. Duvivier/1806"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1989.28
    CREDIT LINE Healy Purchase Fund B
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Jean-Bernard Duvivier (Belgian, 1762-1837). Portrait of Madame Tallien, 1806. Oil on canvas, 49 1/2 x 36 3/4 in. (125.7 x 93.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Healy Purchase Fund B, 1989.28 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1989.28_SL3.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1989.28_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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