![Anne-Louis Girodet - Self Portrait [1795]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3942/15739583555_d2b6015894_o.jpg)
Anne-Louis Girodet (1767 - 1824) was a painter of genius, but also a rebel bent on confounding expectations. His predilection for the bizarre, his ambiguous eroticism, his literary sophistication, not to mention the mysteries surrounding his life and relations have remained a source of fascination or bewilderment. However, this artist stands as one of the most significant painters of the French school, and his contribution to the history of painting is on a par with that of his mentor Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres or Théodore Géricault.
[Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon - Oil on canvas]