Recamier

¹ American  

[rey-kuh-myey] / ˌreɪ kəˈmyeɪ /

noun

1. a backless day bed of the Directoire and Empire periods, having raised ends of equal height.

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Récamier ² American  

[rey-ka-myey] / reɪ kaˈmyeɪ /

noun

1. Madame Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard, 1777–1849, French social leader in the literary and political circles of Paris.

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Etymology

Origin of Recamier

1920–25; after Madame Récamier ( def. )

Example Sentences

Portraits were up when I visited — Alexander the Great marching into Babylon; a sly-looking Louis XIV; and Madame Récamier, an 18th century socialite, on her deathbed.

From Seattle Times

The style is known as a récamier, after the society hostess who lounges on one in a famous portrait by Jacques-Louis David in the Louvre.

From New York Times

One particularly potent scene focuses on the 19th Century portrait of the Parisian socialite Juliette Recamier.

From BBC

One of the most potent moments is the image of the reclining Madame Recamier.

From The Guardian

The couple and their dancers also perform in front of the large-scale paintings of revolutionary and early imperial France in the long Grande Galerie: David’s “Oath of the Horatii” and portrait of Madame Récamier; Théodore Géricault’s “Charging Chasseur” and “Raft of the Medusa.”

From New York Times