Juliette Récamier, the darling of Europe

Juliette Récamier, by Joseph Chinard, from 1805-1806. In 1793, at the age of 15, she married the banker Jacques, 42, the longstanding lover of her mother who was probably her real father. This was at the height of the revolutionary Terror - if he was guillotined, she would inherit his money. Photograph: Alain Basset /mba

Madame Recamier by Francois Gerard. An early women's magazine reported on her elegant style, how her iconic thin white cotton dress set off her arms and bust, while a coloured shawl added interest. Photograph: Corbis

Juliette Récamier by Frimin Massot in 1807. Her Paris manion on Rue de Mont Blanc was a temple of elegance. Photograph: Alain Basset /MBA

Récamier stood up for De l'Allemagne, by Germaine de Staël, pictured here, and this, and her liberal-minded friends, led Napoleon to exile her from Paris. Photograph: RMN/MBA

Prince Augustus of Prussia fell in love with her and sought marriage, but she refused to divorce her husband and father. Photograph: Jörg P. Anders/BPK Berlin/MBA

The much-loved Romantic author François-René de Chateaubriand, painted here in 1809 by Anne-Louis Girodet, became a regular visitor to her salon. Photograph: Michel Dupuis/Musée d’histoire de Saint-Malo/MBA

In her later days Récamier was relatively poor, but she set up a home in the Abbaye-aux-Bois, where she continued to receive admirers. Photograph: Jean-Gilles Berizzi/RMN/MBA

At the exhibition in Lyon, which continue until June 29, her fine sense of neoclassical style is showcased. Photograph: MBA

... and her attention to detail. These lavender silk slippers are known to have belonged to Récamier. Photograph: Jean Tholance/Les Arts Décoratifs/MBA

Portrait of Récamier by Jacques-Louis David at the Louvre. This style of sofa came to be associated with her, and to this day is known as the récamier Photograph: Corbis

... her very own récamier, now in the Louvre collection. Photograph: Daniel Arnaudet/RMN/MBA

And her image and fame has lived on, as she surely would have wished: René Magritte, Perspective, Madame Récamier de David, 1951. Photograph: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada/MBA