Portrait of Mlle. Lange As Danae 1799

Anne-Louis Girodet painted this portrait of Mlle. Lange as Danae, using oil on canvas. The luminous quality of the skin and the drapery are achieved by building up many thin layers of paint. Girodet would have ground his own pigments, mixing them with oil to create paints with specific properties, carefully layering these to create depth, texture and color. The smooth finish, typical of Neoclassical painting, belies the labor-intensive process required to achieve this effect. This painting is a satire of celebrity culture and its close ties to the new world of commerce and capitalism. Look closely, and you'll see that the details poke fun at Mlle. Lange's reputation for greed and vanity. The shower of gold coins refers to the myth of Danae, who was impregnated by Zeus in the form of golden rain, suggesting that she is preoccupied with money. By understanding the materials and the artist's painstaking process, we can see how Girodet engaged with the wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption, ultimately challenging traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.