The career of Anne-Louise Girodet de Roucy-Trioson spanned one of the most turbulent yet significant periods in French history, which witnessed the French Revolution, the reign of Napoleon, and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. Across this period, the artist pioneered a new artistic sensibility which combined intellectual refinement and sensuality in works that were quintessentially Romantic in spirit.
In 1784, the young Girodet entered the studio of the legendary French neoclassical painter, Jacques-Louis David, quickly becoming his star pupil. He won the coveted Prix de Rome in 1789, and departed for Rome the following year, remaining there until 1795. While in Rome, he began to depart from the austere neoclassicism of David to develop his own highly imaginative and often passionately poetic manner which pushed the boundaries of what was considered appropriate by the French art establishment. He produced a number of works glorifying Napoleon, including his great Equestrian Portrait of Napoleon (private collection, São Paulo, Brazil). Unusual colour effects and melodramatic lighting characterise his renderings of the literary subjects he favoured, exemplified by works like the Sleep of Endymion (1791) and the Entombment of Atala (1808), both now in the Louvre.
Alongside his historical works and portraiture, Girodet devoted much time to illustrating literary volumes, including editions of Virgil and Racine. In 1815, on the death of his adoptive father, Benoît-Agnès Trioson, whose name he had taken a few years previously, Girodet inherited a large fortune and he ceased painting almost entirely. Instead, he turned his energies to literary and building projects. He was made a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1816.
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