With the help of Father Aubry, the Indian Chactas is burying Atala, a young Christian girl who was to take the veil, and who preferred to poison herself rather than succumb to carnal love. Girodet's unusual talent, given to cavernous gloom and spectral forms, was well suited to illustrating Chateaubriand, who had his novel "Atala" published in 1801 on his return from America.
