1808, as many as eight (and in 1810, no less than fourteen) portraits by him were exhibited at the Salon, and these figures afford only an indication of the enormous numbers which he executed yearly. All of the leading figures of the Empire and of the Bourbon Restoration, and all of the most celebrated men and women of Europe, sat for Gérard. This extraordinary vogue was due partly to the charm of his manner and conversation, for his salon was as much frequented as his studio. Madame de Staël, George Canning, Talleyrand and the Duke of Wellington have all borne witness to the attraction of his society. Rich and famous, Gérard was stung by remorse for earlier ambitions abandoned; at intervals, he had indeed striven with Girodet and other rivals to prove his strength at history painting, still a more prestigious genre than portraiture. His Bataille d'Austerlitz (1810) showed a breadth of invention and style which was even more conspicuous in L'Entrée d'Henri IV à Paris (at Versailles), the work with which in 1817 he paid homage to the returned Louis XVIII. After this date, Gérard declined, watching with impotent grief the progress of the Romantic school. Loaded with honors – baron of the Empire in 1809, member of the Institut on 7 March 1812, officer of the Légion d'honneur, first painter to the king – he worked on, sad and discouraged. The revolution of 1830 added to his disquiet, and on 11 January 1837, after three days of fever, he died. Gérard is best remembered for his portraits. The color of his paintings has suffered, but his drawings show in uninjured delicacy the purity of his line, and those of women are specially remarkable for a virginal simplicity and frankness of expression. His students included Heinrich Christoph Kolbe. Selected works See also Neoclassicism in France Footnotes References Sources A biography by Charles Lenormant. A biography by Adolphe Viollet-le-Duc followed by François Gérard's correspondence collected by his nephew Henri Gérard. A different biography by his nephew Henri Gérard, 14 etched portraits, additional letters and notes. Notes External links , the painting of 'Mme de Staël as her character Corrine' engraved by Joseph Goodyear for The Amulet annual, 1832. 18th-century French painters French male painters 19th-century French painters 1770 births 1837 deaths Pupils of Jacques-Louis David Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Artists from Paris French people