Girodet depicted the actress Mademoiselle Lange as Venus, standing on her couch, her face turned from the viewer. In the mirror that Cupid is holding up to her, the painter, who delighted in hidden references, has shown only one ear. When the actress expressed her annoyance at the painting, Girodet painted her again, this time in mythological form, Mademoiselle Lange as Danaë.
