Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (1754–1838), Prince de Bénévent

Painted in oil on canvas, the portrait measures 213 × 147 cm and was executed as a full-length composition. Gérard's handling is polished and refined, characteristic of his Neoclassical portraiture: the surface is smoothly finished, with careful modelling of fabrics and accessories. Talleyrand is shown in an informal domestic setting despite the official scale, seated at a writing table with a quill and inkwell, wearing a sash and the Legion of Honour.

The Order of the Golden Fleece, added approximately seven years after the initial completion, demonstrates an alteration to the paint surface. The sitter's club foot is deliberately omitted, a consistent choice in his iconography.

Commissioned by Talleyrand shortly after his resignation as French Foreign Minister in 1808, this portrait was painted by François Gérard and exhibited that same year at the Paris Salon, where it was one of six full-length portraits by the artist that revitalized his career. The painting originally depicted Talleyrand wearing the Legion of Honour; about seven years later, Gérard added the Order of the Golden Fleece, awarded to the sitter at the Congress of Vienna. The work is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. No inventory or accession number is provided in the available sources.

Exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1808 as one of six full-length portraits by François Gérard, this painting added fresh momentum to his career as a portraitist. It portrays Talleyrand not as a public official but as a private nobleman, intentionally concealing his club foot, a detail consistent with other portraits of him. The work's place in art history is further underscored by an engraving by Auguste Gaspard Louis Desnoyers.

The portrait's informal elegance and later addition of the Order of the Golden Fleece reflect both the sitter's political trajectory and the evolving conventions of Napoleonic-era portraiture.

The portrait debuted at the Paris Salon of 1808 as one of six full-length works by Gérard, boosting his profile as a portraitist. An engraving by Auguste Gaspard Louis Desnoyers later extended its reach. The painting subsequently entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is held as a key work of Napoleonic-era portraiture.

François Gérard's 1808 oil painting depicts Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, a prominent French statesman and diplomat. The work captures Talleyrand, then Prince de Bénévent, in a formal setting, reflecting his status and influence. This portrait, a significant example of early 19th-century French painting, is now part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.