Jacques Louis David

The French painter Jacques Louis David (1748-1825) was the leader of the neoclassic movement. His style set the artistic standards for many of his contemporaries and determined the direction of numerous 19th-century painters.

Jacques Louis David early turned his back on the frivolous rococo manner, looking instead to antiquity for inspiration. Following the ideals of Nicolas Poussin, to whom the artist candidly admitted he owed everything, David sought to reduce classical principles to their barest, unencumbered essentials. In this endeavor he observed with avid interest the neoclassicism propounded by Johann Winckelmann and the illustrations of antiquity found in the paintings of Anton Raphael Mengs. An outspoken political firebrand, David espoused the cause of the French Revolution and under the Convention held sway as the virtual dictator of the arts; later when Napoleon came to power, he acted willingly as his artistic spokesman.

David was born in Paris on Aug. 30, 1748. His well-to-do bourgeois family placed him in the studio of that arch-practitioner of the rococo manner, the eminent painter François Boucher, to whom David was apparently distantly related. Perhaps because of his own advanced years, Boucher encouraged David to study under Joseph Marie Vien, a painter who had been attracted by the new wave of interest in antiquity while studying in Rome. In 1771 David won second prize in the Prix de Rome competition, but it was not until 3 years later and after severe mental frustration that he won the first prize with his painting Antiochus Dying for the Love of Stratonice.

Early Works

David went to Rome in 1775 in the company of Vien, who had just been named the director of the French Academy there. David studied the ancient architectural monuments, marble reliefs, and freestanding statues. In addition, he strove for a clearer understanding of the classical principles underlying the styles of the Renaissance and baroque masters Raphael, the Carracci, Domenichino, and Guido Reni. The effects of David's Romanization were first witnessed in his Belisarius Asking for Alms, exhibited in Paris in 1781. When he returned to Paris in 1780, he was an artist already thoroughly imbued with the tenets of classicism. He was admitted to the French Academy in 1783 with his painting Andromache by the Body of Hector.

The following year David returned to Rome in order to paint the Oath of the Horatii, a work which was immediately acclaimed a masterpiece both in Italy and in France at its showing at the Parisian Salon of 1785. The painting reflected a strong interest in archeological exactitude in the depiction of figures and settings. Its carefully calculated severity of composition and its emphasis on a sculptural hardness of precise drawing, which David saw as more important than color, contributed to the forceful moralistic tone of the subject: the oath being administered to the Horatii by their father, who demanded their sacrifice for the good of the state. In this single work, with its strong republican implications, those aspiring to do so could find a call to revolution, a revolution which was in fact only 5 years distant. The Oath was followed by other moralizing canvases such as the Death of Socrates (1787) and Brutus and the Lictors Bringing Home to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789), both extolling the classical virtues.

French Revolution

With the Revolution in full swing, David for a time abandoned his classical approach and began to paint scenes describing contemporary events, among them the unfinished Oath of the Tennis Court (1791), glorifying the first challenge to royal authority by the parliamentarians of the period. He also concentrated on portraits of the martyred heroes of the fight for freedom, including the Death of Marat (1793), the Death of Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau (1793) and the Death of Joseph Bara (1794), all executed with an unvarnished realism. The artist was deeply involved with the political scene; elected to the National Convention in 1792, he served as a deputy to that all-powerful body and was one of those who voted for the execution of King Louis XVI.

David had apparently long harbored great animosity toward the French Academy, perhaps because it had failed to fully recognize his talents when he had first submitted works for the Grand Prix competition. Though an honored member by the time of the Revolution, in 1793 he hastened its dissolution, forming a group called the Commune of the Arts; this group was almost immediately supplanted by the Popular and Republican Society of the Arts, from whose ranks the Institute ultimately would be formed.

A friend of Robespierre, David nearly accompanied him to the guillotine when the Jacobin fell from power in 1794. Imprisoned for 7 months, first at Fresnes and then in the Luxembourg, the artist emerged a politically wiser man. It was while in prison that David executed one of his rare landscapes: the Gardens of the Luxembourg (1794), a view from his prison window. By 1798 he was busy on what he proclaimed his masterpiece, the Rape of the Sabine Women. The subject matter, derived from the classical legend described by Livy in which the Sabine women intervened in the battle between their fathers and brothers and their Roman husbands, represented a calculated appeal by David to end the internecine conflict that had ripped France asunder; further, the vast canvas was planned as a sort of manifesto proclaiming the validity of the antique.

David and Napoleon

It was at this time that David met Napoleon Bonaparte, in whose person he recognized a worthy new hero whom he promptly proceeded to glorify. The Emperor in turn realized the rich potential of David as a propagandist born to champion his imperial regime, and it was probably with this in mind that he invited the artist to accompany him on his Egyptian campaign; that David declined to go was surely due only to the fact that he was then deeply absorbed in the creation of his avowed masterpiece, the Sabine Women. Named "first painter," David executed a number of portraits of the Emperor, the most notable of which is probably that entitled Bonaparte Crossing the St. Bernard Pass (1800), in which the subject was idealized in physical stature and romanticized as the effortless man of action. Among the major commissions granted David by the Emperor were the colossal scenes treating specific episodes of his reign. The best-known of these are the Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine (1805-1807), containing over 100 portraits, and the Distribution of the Eagles (1810).

Though David would have preferred to be remembered for his history painting, he was at his best as a portraitist. Certain of his portraits, such as Madame Sériziat and Her Daughter and Monsieur Sériziat (1795), are done with an incredible directness and thus retain a freshness and vivacity not often encountered in David's more serious works. His unfinished portrait Madame Récamier (1800), with the subject shown in long, loosely flowing robes, vaguely reminiscent of the antique, summarizes the studied elegance of the neoclassic age.

With Bonaparte's defeat at Waterloo and the subsequent restoration of the Bourbons, David tried to retreat into quiet seclusion, but his earlier political affiliation and, more particularly, his actions during the heat of the Revolution were not calculated to warm his relations with the new rulers. He was declared persona non grata and fled to Switzerland. A short time later he settled in Brussels, where he continued to paint until his death on Dec. 29, 1825. His family's urgent request that his ashes be returned to France was denied. He was buried amidst great pomp and circumstance in the church of Ste-Gudule in Brussels.

David's Influence

There was scarcely a young painter of the following generation who was not influenced by David's style, a style which had within it such diverse aspects as classicism, realism, and romanticism. Among his foremost pupils, each of whom developed various different facets of his style, were Antoine Jean, Baron Gros; Pierre Narcisse Guérin; François Gérard; Girodet de Roucy-Trioson; and perhaps most important, J. A. D. Ingres.

Further Reading

Most of the vast literature on David is in French. In English, the best studies are W. R. Valentiner, Jacques Louis David and the French Revolution (1929), and David L. Dowd, Pageant Master of the Republic: Jacques-Louis David and the French Revolution (1948). David is also discussed in the following general studies of the period: Lionello Venturi, Modern Painters (2 vols., 1947-1950); Walter Friedlaender, David to Delacroix (1952); and Jack Lindsay, Death of the Hero: French Painting from David to Delacroix (1961).

Additional Sources

Brookner, Anita, Jacques-Louis David, London: Chatto &Windus, 1980; New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1980, 1987. □

David, Jacques-Louis (b Paris, 30 Aug, 1748; d Brussels, 29 Dec. 1825). French history painter and portraitist. He was the greatest of Neoclassical painters and one of the most influential European artists of his time. On the advice of the aged Boucher, a distant relative, he was apprenticed to Vien in 1766 and in the same year he became a student at the Académie Royale. In 1774 he won the Prix de Rome at the fifth attempt, and the following year he went to Italy with Vien, who had been appointed director of the French Academy in Rome.

David remained in Italy until 1780 and during this period he purged his work of Rococo mannerisms and developed a heroic style heavily influenced by his study of antique sculpture and his admiration for Poussin and Raphael. After his return to Paris he quickly rose to be the leading painter of the day. His success depended not only on the grandeur and dignity of his work, but also on its moral seriousness, which was in keeping with the spirit of the time. The Rococo style was associated with the frivolity of court life, and as the royal family and the aristocracy became increasingly unpopular, David's sternly Neoclassical paintings could be seen as expressions of the desire for social as well as aesthetic change. The work that more than any other established his pre-eminence was the Oath of the Horatii (Louvre, Paris), painted during a return visit to Rome in 1784–5, which shows three ancient Roman brothers dedicating their lives to the state as they prepare to face three enemy champions in mortal combat. Hugh Honour (Neo-Classicism, 1968) describes it as ‘an image of extraordinary lucidity and visual punch…a clarion call to civic virtue and patriotism’. Its ideals of austerity, stoical self-sacrifice, and devotion to duty were repeated in two other celebrated masterpieces, the Death of Socrates (1787, Met. Mus., New York) and the Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons (1789, Louvre). These three works mark the summit of Neoclassical painting.

After the Revolution in 1789, with which he was entirely in sympathy, David became actively involved in politics (he served on various committees and voted for the execution of Louis XVI) and he used his art directly as propaganda. He made designs for revolutionary festivals, and his paintings of the time included three pictures of ‘martyrs of the Revolution’, in which he moved portraiture into the domain of universal tragedy. They were: the Death of Lepeletier (1793, destroyed, but known from an engraving), the Death of Marat (1793, Mus. Royaux, Brussels), and the Death of Bara (1794, Mus. Calvet, Avignon; unfinished). After the fall of his friend Robespierre (1794), however, David was imprisoned for having supported him, narrowly escaping the guillotine; he was released after pleas from his wife, who had previously divorced him because of his revolutionary sympathies (she was a royalist). They were remarried in 1796, and David's Intervention of the Sabine Women (1794–9, Louvre), begun while he was in prison, is said to have been painted to honour her, its theme being one of love prevailing over conflict. It was also interpreted at the time, however, as a plea for reconciliation in the civil strife that France suffered after the Revolution and it was the work that re-established David's fortunes. By the time it was finished, Napoleon had restored order to France. David transferred his allegiance to him (‘Bonaparte is my hero’, he said after first meeting him in 1798) and became one of the leading artists in depicting his life and legend. Napoleon, in turn, showered David with honours and after he was crowned emperor in 1804 gave him the title of first painter (although he eventually came to prefer the work of Gros, David's former pupil).

David's commissions from Napoleon included various portraits and a projected series of four huge pictures of events from his life, of which only two were produced: the Coronation of Napoleon (1805–7, Louvre) and the Presentation of the Eagle Standards (1808–10, Versailles). These two pictures show a change in technique and feeling from his earlier work, severe compositions and cold colours giving way to a new feeling for pageantry and an almost Romantic warmth and ardour (he hated the Romantic movement, but he influenced it greatly). After the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, David (who had signed a declaration of loyalty to the emperor) left France and settled in Brussels in 1816. He was now approaching 70 and the paintings from his final decade in exile have generally been regarded as an undistinguished coda to his life, his work weakening as the possibility of exerting a moral and social influence receded. However, the sensuous qualities of his late mythological paintings are now winning appreciation, and he continued to be an outstanding portraitist, although he never surpassed such earlier achievements as the stirring Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1800, KH Mus., Vienna, one of four versions) or the coolly erotic Mme Récamier (1800, Louvre).

David was the most important teacher of his day and he was loyally supported by his many former pupils (notably Gros, who took over the master's studio in Paris and tried to bring about his return to France, even though David was content in Brussels). His other pupils included Gérard, Girodet, and Ingres, and he also had prominent followers among artists who did not actually study with him, notably Guérin. These artists, sometimes referred to as the ‘School of David’, formed the most prestigious group of painters in Europe in the early 19th century; David was perhaps the last great painter to create such a following.

David, Jacques-Louis (1748–1825). French history painter and portraitist. He was the greatest of Neoclassical painters and one of the most influential European artists of his time. On the advice of the aged Boucher, a distant relative, he was apprenticed to Vien in 1766 and in the same year he became a student at the Académie Royale. In 1774 he won the Prix de Rome at the fifth attempt, and the following year he went to Italy with Vien, who had been appointed director of the French Academy in Rome. David remained in Italy until 1780 and during this period he purged his work of Rococo mannerisms and developed a heroic style heavily influenced by his study of Antique sculpture and his admiration for Poussin and Raphael. After his return to Paris he quickly rose to be the leading painter of the day. His success depended not only on the grandeur and dignity of his work, but also on its moral seriousness, which was in keeping with the spirit of the time. The Rococo style was associated with the frivolity of court life, and as the royal family and the aristocracy became increasingly unpopular, David's sternly Neoclassical paintings could be seen as expressions of the desire for social as well as aesthetic change. The work that more than any other established his pre-eminence was the Oath of the Horatii (1785, Louvre, Paris), which shows three ancient Roman brothers dedicating their lives to the state as they prepare to face three enemy champions in mortal combat. It has been described as ‘an image of extraordinary lucidity and visual punch…a clarion call to civic virtue and patriotism’ (Hugh Honour, Neo-Classicism, 1968), and its ideas of austerity, stoical self-sacrifice, and devotion to duty were repeated in two other celebrated masterpieces, the Death of Socrates (1787, Met. Mus., New York) and the Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons (1789, Louvre). These three pictures were acclaimed by critics and public alike and they mark the summit of Neoclassical painting.

After the Revolution in 1789, with which he was entirely in sympathy, David became actively involved in politics (he served on various committees and voted for the execution of Louis XVI) and he used his art directly as propaganda. He made designs for Revolutionary festivals, and his paintings of the time included three pictures of ‘martyrs of the Revolution’, in which he moved portraiture into the domain of universal tragedy. They were: the Death of Lepelletier (1793, destroyed, but known from an engraving), the Death of Marat (1793, Mus. Royaux, Brussels), and the Death of Bara (1794, Mus. Calvet, Avignon; unfinished). After the fall of his friend Robespierre (1794), however, David was imprisoned for having supported him, narrowly escaping the guillotine; he was released after pleas from his wife, who had previously divorced him because of his Revolutionary sympathies (she was a royalist). They were remarried in 1796, and David's Intervention of the Sabine Women (1794–9, Louvre), begun while he was in prison, is said to have been painted to honour her, its theme being one of love prevailing over conflict. It was also interpreted at the time, however, as a plea for reconciliation in the civil strife that France suffered after the Revolution and it was the work that re-established David's fortunes. By the time it was finished, Napoleon had restored order to France. David transferred his allegiance to him (‘Bonaparte is my hero’, he said after first meeting him in 1798) and became one of the leading artists in depicting his life and legend. Napoleon, in turn, showered David with honours and after he was crowned emperor in 1804 gave him the title of first painter (although he eventually came to prefer the work of Gros, David's former pupil).

David's commissions from Napoleon included various portraits and a projected series of four huge pictures of events from his life, of which only two were produced: the Coronation of Napoleon (1805–7, Louvre) and the Presentation of the Eagle Standards (1808–10, Versailles). These two pictures show a change in technique and feeling from his earlier work, severe compositions and cold colours giving way to a new feeling for pageantry and an almost Romantic warmth and ardour (he hated the Romantic movement, but he influenced it greatly). After the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, David (who had signed a declaration of loyalty to the emperor) left France and settled in Brussels in 1816. He was now approaching 70 and the paintings from his final decade in exile have generally been regarded as an undistinguished coda to his life, his work weakening as the possibility of exerting a moral and social influence receded. However, the sensuous qualities of his late mythological paintings are now winning appreciation, and he continued to be an outstanding portraitist, although he never surpassed such earlier achievements as the great Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1800, KH Mus., Vienna, one of four versions) or the coolly erotic Madame Récamier (1800, Louvre). David was the most important teacher of his day and he was loyally supported by his many former pupils (notably Gros, who took over the master's studio in Paris and tried to bring about his return to France, even though David was content in Brussels). His other pupils included Gérard, Girodet, and Ingres, and he also had prominent followers among artists who did not actually study with him, notably Guérin. These artists, sometimes referred to as the ‘School of David’, formed the most prestigious group of painters in Europe in the early 19th century; David was perhaps the last great painter to create such a following.

Jacques-Louis David , 1748–1825, French painter. David was the virtual art dictator of France for a generation. Extending beyond painting, his influence determined the course of fashion, furniture design, and interior decoration and was reflected in the development of moral philosophy. His art was a sudden and decisive break with tradition, and from this break "modern art" is dated.

David studied with Vien at the French Academy, and after winning the Prix de Rome (which had been refused him four times, causing him to attempt suicide by starvation) he accompanied Vien to Italy in 1775. His pursuit of the antique, nurtured by his time in Rome and his viewing of the ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum, directed the classical revival in French art. He borrowed classical forms and motifs, predominantly from sculpture, to illustrate a sense of virtue he mistakenly attributed to the ancient Romans. Consumed by a desire for perfection and by a passion for the political ideals of the French Revolution, David imposed a fierce discipline on the expression of sentiment in his work. This inhibition resulted in a distinct coldness and rationalism of approach.

David's reputation was made by the Salon of 1784. In that year he produced his first masterwork, The Oath of the Horatii (Louvre). This work and his celebrated Death of Socrates (1787; Metropolitan Mus.) as well as Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789; Louvre) were themes appropriate to the political climate of the time. They secured for David vast popularity and success. David was admitted to the Académie royale in 1780 and worked as court painter to the king.

As a powerful republican David, upon being elected to the revolutionary Convention, voted for the king's death and for the dissolution of the Académie royale both in France and in Rome. In his paintings of the Revolution's martyrs, especially in his Marat (1793; Brussels), his iron control is softened and the tragic portraits are moving and dignified. The artist was imprisoned for a time at the end of the Reign of Terror.

David emerged to become First Painter to the emperor and foremost recorder of Napoleonic events (e.g., Napoleon Crossing the Saint Bernard Pass, 1800–01; Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, 1805–07; and The Distribution of the Eagles, 1810) and a sensitive portraitist (e.g., Mme Récamier, 1800; Louvre). In this period David reached the height of his influence, but his painting, more than ever the embodiment of neoclassical theory, was again static and deadened in feeling. The Battle of the Romans and Sabines (1799; Louvre) portrayed the battle through the use of physically frozen figures.

During the Bourbon Restoration David spent his last years in Brussels, where he painted a masterful series of portraits, mainly of fellow refugees from the Napoleonic court. Although he belittled the genre, it was as a portraitist that he was at his most distinguished. Using living, rather than sculptured models, he allowed his spontaneous sentiment to be revealed in the closely observed portrayals. These last portraits, such as Antoine Mongez and His Wife Angelica (1812; Lille), Bernard (1820; Louvre), and Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte (1821; Getty Mus.) are enormously vital and in them the seeds of the new romanticism are clearly discernible.

Bibliography: See D. L. Dowd, Pageant-Master of the Republic (1948); J. Lindsay, Death of the Hero (1960); W. Roberts, Jacques Louis David, Revolutionary Artist (1989).

David, Jacques Louis (1748–1825) French painter, a leader of neo-classicism. Influenced by Poussin and Greek and Roman art, David's work was closely tied to his Jacobin views and support for Napoleon during the French Revolution. His most famous work is Oath of the Horatii (1784). Other works include Death of Marat (1793), and Madame Recamier (1799).

http://www.louvre.fr; http://www.metmuseum.org

David, Jacques-Louis. See MODERN ART.