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were able to admire the famous bust of Brutus placed Fig. 3
atop the triumphal float illustrating The Arts seeking the
Laurel Grove (Fig.4). Fig. 4

By including the bust of Brutus in this group portrait tiated by Miot, Moitte was one of the six experts
Gauffier deliberately alludes to this famous episode in appointed to the Commission of Arts and Sciences33
Miot’s career. Gauffier not only displayed his intellect who were entrusted by the Directory in selecting
and skilful command of compositional skills but he masterpieces from amongst the works seized by the
also elevated what would have otherwise been a sim- revolutionary armies for the French museums.
ple conversation piece into a powerfully symbolic Moitte travelled to Florence in July 1796 and took up
Republican portrait illustrating an historic example of his new role there where he joined the French lega-
civic virtue.

However, in his portrait of Miot and his family,
Gauffier went beyond simply evoking echoes of
David’s 1789 masterwork and the ceremonial trans-
fer of the Capitoline Brutus from Rome. In the left
background he also included the bronze statue of the
Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts, Minerva,
seated, helmeted and grasping a spear. In David’s can-
vas, exhibited in the triumphal procession to the
Champs de Mars, Brutus is depicted pondering dark-
ly at the feet of the same statue.This sculpture, which
had come to be seen as representative of the very
embodiment of the French Republic, glowers over
and dominates the background of the portrait. It is
placed in a large niche and appears to stand guard
over the Miot family, almost as if, in this context, this
icon of Republican virtues was their lar, one of the
personal protective deities of Republican Rome.

The idea of representing the French Republic as a
seated (never standing) Minerva originated with the
sculptor Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1746-1810), direc-
tor of the celebrations for 9 and 10 thermidor.
Moitte’s original plaster sculpture disappeared some
time after it was put into storage at the Augustins,31
but it survives in a modello32 (Fig. 5) which shows
striking similarities to the statue in the portrait.
Moreover, pursuant upon the famous armistice nego-

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