Madame Juliette Récamier was a Neoclassical French icon, salon hostess, and influential Parisian socialite in elite French circles of the time. Wife of a French banker and daughter of a banker from Lyon, she was considered to be among the most beautiful socialites of her time. She was rarely seen without an entourage of male suitors. and was renowned for both her wit and romantic affairs. The esteemed French poet and dramatist Théophile Gautier wrote of her "indescribable attraction, like the poetry of the unknown". Prominent authors, such as Mme. de Stael, modeled some of her protagonists on Récamier.
