Jacques-Louis David

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Jacques-Louis David

• Neoclassical style

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Biography

• Jacques-Louis David was born in 1748 and
  died in 1825.
• He was a highly influential French painter in the
  Neoclassical style.
• He was not only artistically, but also
  politically active

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Neoclassical Style

• Neoclassicism - a new imitation of Classicism
  artists were deliberately imitating Roman and
  Greek art.
• The second half of 18th century Europe - the
  Enlightenment or the Age of Reason artists felt
  free from the restrictions of religion and
  traditional authority ideas of liberty and
  equality.
• Art had to move a person's deepest feelings and
  teach virtue. Artists believed that it should
  serve the nation and be good for the people, just
  as it had for the ancient Greeks and Romans.
• Classical art depicted serious subjects in a
  serious way

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Quote

• David not only selected a serious subject of
  Greek history, he painted the story in an
  appropriately severe classical style. David
  created figures that resemble famous classical
  statutes, and he arranged them across the surface
  of the canvas as in a classical relief. The
  architectural background is suitably stark. To
  bring out the dramatic presence of the character,
  however, David resorted to Caravaggio's
  Tenebrism. He played a strong light on the
  precisely detailed figures and left the rest of
  the picture in darkness so as to sharpen the
  impact of the drama.

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Bio

• He was born in a prosperous family in Paris but
  he was never a good student. He had a tumor that
  impeded his speech, and he wanted to a painter.
• In 1774 he went to Rome where he spent six years.
  Roman artists influenced his earlier grand manner
  style of the Baroque and he started experimenting
  with Neoclassical idioms.
• In the 1780s his cerebral brand of History
  painting marked a change in taste away from
  Rococo frivolity towards a classical austerity
  and severity. History paintings included
  paintings with religious, mythological,
  historical, literary, or allegorical
  subjects--they embodied some interpretation of
  life or conveyed a moral or intellectual message.
• Back in Paris, the King granted David lodging in
  the Louvre - an ancient and much desired
  privilege of great artists
• His marriage to Marguerite Charlotte Pecol
  brought him money and eventually four children

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Early works

• In Rome, he painted his famous Oath of the
  Horatii - a depiction of the Roman salute. The
  painting occupies an extremely important place in
  the body of Davids work and in the history of
  French painting. Its theme is extremely patriotic
  and has neoclassical perspective.
• It later became a model work for future painters.
  Probably, the most famous and certainly the most
  severe of a series of works by Davis, which
  extolled the antique virtues of stoicism,
  masculinity and patriotism

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Politics and Art

• David became an active supporter of the French
  Revolution. During the French Revolution, David
  played an active role both artistically he
  reorganized the Académe and produced numerous and
  spectacular propaganda exercises - and
  politically, as an avid supporter of Robespierre,
  who voted for the execution of the king.
• As a friend of Maximilien de Robespierre, he
  became a dictator of the arts under the French
  Republic. But after Robespierre's fall from
  power, David was imprisoned.

• From this period is the portrayal of the Death of
  Marat (1793, Brussels, Musée Royaux).

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Politics and Art

• Napoleon in His Study 1812
• Oil on canvas
• 80 1/4 x 49 1/4 in. (203.9 x 125.1 cm)
• The National Gallery of Art,
• Washington, D.C.
• Bonaparte 1798Oil on canvas31 7/8 x 25 5/8
  inMusee du Louvre, Paris

• Later, David simpatized another political regime
  - that of Napoleon I. He recorded Napoleon in
  numerous propaganda pieces

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Art and Politics

• Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and
  Coronation of the EmpressJosephine in the
  Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 Dec
  18041806 and 1807 Oil on canvas 621 x 979 cm
  Musee du Louvre, Paris

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Art

• He potrayed/symbolized his wife in his
  Intervention of the Sabine Women (1799, Paris,
  Louvre) - a work which strained his Classicism in
  the search for Greek purity.

• In 1815 retired in exile to Brussels, where he
  continued to work

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Jacques-Louis David

• David had a huge number of pupils, making him the
  strongest influence in French art of the 19th
  century, especially academic Salon painting. The
  Paris Salon, Salon de Paris, is the official art
  exhibition of the Académie des beaux-arts in
  Paris, France.
• He developed his 'Empire style', notable for its
  use of warm Venetian colours, more pictorial and
  colourful.

• Throughout his career he produced portraiture
  which not only catalogued the changing political
  spectrum, but also his own artistic developments
  (e.g. Antoine Lavoisier and his Wife, 1788, New
  York, Metropolitan Museum).

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Jacques-Louis David

• Probably his most famous painting is The Death of
  Socrates 1787

• Death of Socrates was a moral lesson in courage
  and sacrifice for the truth. It encouraged those
  who saw it to stand by their convictions no
  matter what the consequences.

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Reference

• Wikipedia. Article on Jacques-Louis David -
  http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques-Louis_David
• The Archive, art forum. Jacques-Louis David -
  http//artchive.com/artchive/D/david.htmlimages
• The Archive, art forum, classicism
  http//72.14.203.104/search?qcache-JAgABQ1hMgJa
  rtchive.com/artchive/neo_classical.htmlclassicism
  arthlbgglbgctclnkcd8
• Art history guide - http//72.14.203.104/search?q
  cacheDXkv1fa_oAwJwww.arthistoryguide.com/Classic
  ism.aspxclassicismarthlbgglbgctclnkcd3