# Madame François Buron

- By: Jacques Louis David (French, 1748–1825)
- Date: 1769
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 66.3 × 55.5 cm (26 1/8 × 21 7/8 in.); Framed: 92.4 × 81.6 × 10.2 cm (36 3/8 × 32 1/8 × 4 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Albert J. Beveridge in memory of her mother, Abby Louise Spencer (Mrs. Augustus Eddy).
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/88632)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/77f1c8e3-16c6-1147-f4aa-4cfc8bd3eb8b/full/!1855,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Following his father’s death in 1757, the young Jacques-Louis David was raised in the house of his uncle, architect François Buron, and his wife, Marie-Josèphe Fromont. Madame Buron was particularly supportive of David’s desire to become a painter, in opposition to her husband’s wish that he study architecture. In this intimate early portrait, David presented his aunt looking up momentarily from her reading to acknowledge the viewer with a warm reserve. Her glance suggests an affectionate bond between the painter and sitter and displays the ambitious young artist’s awareness of contemporary conventions for depicting middle-class women of sensibility.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0