English: Portrait of Zoë Elmore

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This painting is a rare work from Géricault's brief period in London. Executed in 1821, when the artist was living with Zoë and her husband Adam Elmore , the portrait, one of the relatively few formal likenesses produced by the artist, almost uniquely evinces the influence of British portraiture on the Frenchman.

Zoë Elmore, with a book in her hand, reclines languidly on a chaise-longue; her cashmere shawl falls onto the carpet, adding an informal, even intimate, passage. Wearing a white silk dress, she appears physically at ease, but mentally preoccupied, a state of inner turmoil suggested by the dark clouds gathering in the distance that can be seen through the open window at left. This slightly melancholic undertone imbues the depiction with a Romantic sensibility, but one tempered by the painter's supple technique and delicate touch, evocative of British portraits, particularly those of Thomas Lawrence and David Wilkie.

Zoë (née Séguin) Elmore (1797-1877), the daughter of a wealthy French businessman, Armand Séguin, married the successful English horse breeder and accomplished equestrian Adam Elmore (1784-1849) in 1816. The couple hosted a number of musicians and artists at their London home at 3 John Street, off Edgware Road. In addition to Géricault, Jules-Robert Auguste and Eugène Delacroix (to whom Adam gave riding lessons) stayed with the young couple during the 1820s. How Géricault first made the couple's acquaintance—at the races, through a mutual friend such as Auguste, or via another connection—remains unknown, but the painter and horse-lover stayed with the Elmores for several months at the end of his second London sojourn.

The hospitality of the Elmores, as both friends and benefactors, enabled Géricault to immerse himself in the English artistic scene. He collaborated on a series of prints with the lithographer Charles Hullmandel and attended the Royal Academy's annual dinner on the invitation of its president, Sir Thomas Lawrence. Visiting the society's spring exhibition made a particularly strong impression on Géricault.