Portrait of Chateaubriand

Portrait of Chateaubriand is a c.1809 portrait painting by the French artist Anne-Louis [Girodet de Roussy-Trioson]. It depicts the French statesman and author François-René de Chateaubriand. Closely associated with the Conservative movement against the French Revolution, he served as Ministry for Europe and [Foreign Affairs (France)|Foreign Minister] from 1822 to 1824 during the Second [Bourbon Restoration|Restoration Era] at the time of the Hundred [Thousand Sons of Saint Louis|Spanish Expedition].
Chateaubriand is shown in a melancholy stance with the ruins of Ancient Rome behind him, during an 1804 visit. The windswept Chateaubriand gazing at the ruins of the Colosseum became an evocative image of the early Romantic male ideal. It was exhibited at the Salon of 1810. Today the painting is in the Musée d’Histoire of Saint-Malo in Brittany.