This work, one of Girodet’s last, betrays the meticulous technique characteristic of the neoclassicism of his teacher, Jacques-Louis David, as well as the perfected forms of the Florentine Renaissance. Letters exchanged between Girodet and the sitter indicate that they knew each other well, and that every detail of the portrait was worked out beforehand. Madame Reizet’s husband was a prominent government official; her son, Marie-Frédéric de Reiset, was a curator at the Louvre who later became director of the French National Museums.