Study for "Portrait of an Indian"

ca. 1807
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 804

This highly finished oil sketch served as the modello for a portrait now in the Musée Girodet at Montargis. When that lifesize canvas was sold at the posthumous auction of Girodet’s studio, it was catalogued as Portrait of an Indian and dated 1807. The costume, however, is Ottoman, not Indian. Girodet was one of the most gifted painters to emerge from the studio of Jacques-Louis David. Returning to Paris in 1795 after his stay at the French Academy in Rome, Girodet developed a style marked by literary preciosity, imaginary pictorial effects, and exotic subjects and settings.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Study for "Portrait of an Indian"
  • Artist: Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson (French, Montargis 1767–1824 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1807
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 16 x 12 7/8 in. (40.6 x 32.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Gift of Joanne Toor Cummings, by exchange, 1997
  • Object Number: 1997.371
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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