It depicts Colette-Désirée-Thérèse Godefroy (1782-1850), the wife of Jacques de Reiset, a French government official of the Restoration era.

She was the mother of Frédéric Reiset, the art collector and curator at the Louvre.

[1] It reflects the Neoclassical influence of the artist's mentor Jacques-Louis David, as well as his interest in Florentine Renaissance art.

[2] The sitter had originally wanted a full-length portrait but Girodet persuaded her this half-length format would be better.

[3] It was one of the final portraits produced by the artist before his death the following year.