MENJAUD, Alexandre
(b. 1773, Paris, d. 1832, Paris)

François I and La Belle Ferronière

1810
Oil on canvas, 66 x 82 cm
Private collection

This painting was exhibited at the 1810 Salon in Paris. The mythology of François I as a philanderer was already current when Menjaud chose to paint the subject of the King with one of his many mistresses. In fact, François's affair with "la belle Ferronière" is now known to have been a fabrication, dating to some years after the King's death.