The Surprise (exhibited 1828)

Claude-Marie Dubufe: The Surprise

A startled woman draws her shawl around her. Her pose is based on the famous classical sculpture, The Medici Venus, a lifesize Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1828.

The Dubufe Family (1820)

Claude-Marie Dubufe: The Dubufe Family

A cheerful (and somewhat claustrophobic) portrait of the artist's family. The artist himself is at right. Dubufe was a historical and portrait painter, was born in Paris in 1790, and studied under Jacques-Louis David. His subjects were at first classical, and then scriptural, but his reputation rests chiefly on his portraits, of which he produced a large number. Dubufe, who was the last representative of the school of David, died at Selle-Saint-Cloud in 1864.