Sotheby's London. An impressive bid for this work which had a top pre-sale estimate of £ 1,5 million. This work went to the British dealer Alex Wengraf for the Getty museum. The price was an auction record for the artist who painted it in 1804. It was one of the few commissions accepted by David who was then working regularly for Napoleon. The sitter was the daughter of Louis-Michel le Peletier who, as a member of the Convention, had voted for the execution of King Louis XVI. On January 20th 1793, he was assasinated by a royalist and was later proclaimed the first «martyr of freedom » and a national hero. His daughter Suzanne, barely 11-year-old, was offcially adopted by the Nation as its orphan, an entirely symbolic gesture as she was extremely rich. At the age of 16 Suzanne married Jean-François de Witt, the son of the ex-plenipotentiary minister of the Batavian Republic in Switzerland, whom she divorced in 1802, soon after the death of their two small children. Two years later, she fell in love with her cousin Léon le Peletier de Mortefontaine. As a token of her love she commissionned a portrait from David which, after her marriage to her cousin, was never to leave the family. The great simplicity of the image on a dark monochrome background is characteristic for David's portraits during the time of the Revolution. Clothed in the latest fashion with the magnificent black stole as a sign of semi-mourning over her white muslin dress, this portrait is the best reflection of David's genius.
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