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David, JL

Jacques-Louis David

Achievements: Neo-classical paintings

Born: August 30, 1748; Paris, France

Died: December 29, 1825; Brussels, Netherlands. Aged 77

Field & Discipline: Art; Painter

Language: French 

Education: College des Quatres Nations; Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture

Major Works:

“The Intervention of the Sabine Women” (1799)

“Death of Marat” (1793)

“Napoleon at St Bernard” (1804)

“Napoleon in His Study” (1812)

Life & Times:

At his fifth attempt David won the Academy’s Prix de Rome in 1774 and the following year left for Italy where his discovery of seventeenth century painting, in particular the dramatic art of Caraveggio and the rational compositions of [influenced by] Poussin*, was of great importance.   He was also profoundly affected the classical buildings, declaring that he felt as though he had been “operated on for cataract of the eye”.

Copying from the engravings of [influenced by] Sir William Hamilton’s* collection of Etruscan vases and from [influenced by] Winckelmann’s* “Monumenti antichi inediti” (1767),  and exposure to the doctrines of neo-classicism put forward by Winckelmann and by the German painter Anton [influenced by] Mengs*,  were further influences.

 In 1780 he returned to Paris,  convinced he had a great future. In 1781 he submitted a large painting “Belisarius Receiving Arms,” to the Academy. It was the first fully integrated example of neoclassic painting in a heroic style, although this type of art was not yet a genre. David was given a studio and lodgings in the Louvre, and, in 1783, a royal commission.  In 1784 he was elected to the Royal Academy on the strength of his “Andromache Mourning Hector.”  The following year he returned to Rome to paint “Oath of the Horatii” in fulfillment of his royal commission.  In 1782 David had attended a performance of  [influenced by] Corneille’s* “Horace” which may have influenced his choice of subject.   The “Horatii” was a sensation and was seen as the exemplar of the new art, later termed neoclassicism, in which serious and morally uplifting subjects were painted in a noble and austere fashion.

David was regarded as the head of this new school of painting, and became as famous as he had planned. He was at odds with the establishment in The Academy and in 1787 he painted his most important work of that year, “The Death of Socrates”, for a private client through whom he mixed with liberal intellectuals and the Enlightenment writers.   Jefferson*, then American minister in France and a great admirer of David, and the English artist Maria Cosway provided contact with more democratic forms of society. In 1789 he exhibited a painting of a Roman consul who condemned to death his own sons for treachery, a painting (“The Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons”) which provided a potent symbol of patriotism and devotion to the state. In the same year, David’s portrait of [painted] Lavoisier* and his wife was not exhibited because Lavoisier, in his capacity as Commissioner for Gunpowder, had incurred the hostility of the Paris mob.

David was sympathetic to the need for change in  France and when the Revolution broke out in 1789 he was a supporter. He joined the radical Jacobins and was elected to the revolutionary government in 1792. He voted for the execution of [pro-execution of] Louis XVI* and was active in promoting art as one of the bastions of the revolution.  It is probable that personal feelings of pique and revenge had something to do with his zealous support for the abolition of the Royal Academy.  He energetically propagated the ideals of the revolution through art, organizing the production of medals and the erection of national monuments.

The most famous David painting from the revolutionary years, and one of David’s finest works, is the “Death of Marat,” painted in 1793 soon after Marat’s murder by Charlotte Corday.  He was briefly imprisoned after the death of Robespierre in 1794 and after the amnesty of 1795 continued to teach his many pupils, among whom was [taught] Ingres*.  In 1799 he painted one of his best-known pictures, “Les Sabines.”  [a fan was] Napoleon* was enthusiastic about the painting and soon co-opted David’s talents for his own glorification. David’s first painting of Napoleon was commissioned by Charles IV of Spain and its composition was dictated by Napoleon who told David he wanted to be shown “calm on a fiery horse”. The heroic grandeur of “Napoleon crossing the St Bernard Pass” fulfills this brief and the names of two great conquerors from the past, Hannibal and Charlemagne, are engraved on rocks at the edge of the painting.

In 1800 David began ( but never finished) a portrait of Juliette Recamier, who became famous as the holder of brilliant salons.  Mindful of Napoleon’s remark that “nothing is beautiful unless it is large,” the most important Napoleonic work David executed was absolutely gigantic.  “Coronation” (1805-7) was then one of the world’s largest paintings (22ft x 30.5 ft). The ritual and splendor of the cathedral ceremony painting required more warmth than the neoclassic style would give, so David took elements from the work of [influenced by] Rubens* and from [influenced by] Veronese*.  Napoleon was delighted with the result.  David’s 1812 portrait of Napoleon,  “Napoleon In His Study” was much more realistic; the painting was commissioned by a Scottish nobleman, Alexander Douglas (later Duke of Hamilton).

After Napoleon’s fall, David left France to live in Brussels. In his last decade, David painted a number of portraits of French exiles and an unusual and disconcerting “Cupid and Psyche” (1817) for which James Gallatin, the seventeen-year old son of the United States envoy to Brussels sat as Cupid.

Extra Connections: Knew the family of [family friend of] Brongniart*

Assessment: David was the most important European painter between 1785 and 1815 and the most prominent neoclassic artist of his time.

Oneliner:  J-L David, major neo-classical painter

Bibliography:

Wikipedia