See Jacques-Louis David Paintings.
Jacques-Louis David (August 30, 1748 – December 29, 1825) was a highly influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the prominent painter of the era. In the 1780s his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in taste away from Rococo frivolity toward a classical austerity and severity, chiming with the moral climate of the final years of the ancien régime.
David later became an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre, and was effectively a dictator of the arts under the French Republic. Imprisoned after Robespierre's fall from power, he aligned himself with yet another political regime upon his release, that of Napoleon I. It was at this time that he developed his 'Empire style', notable for its use of warm Venetian colours. David had a huge number of pupils, making him the strongest influence in French art of the 19th century, especially academic Salon painting.
DAVID, JACQUES LOUIS (1748-1825), French painter, was born in Paris on the 30th of April 1748. His father was killed in a duel, when the boy was but nine years old. His education was begun at the College des Quatre Nations, where he obtained a smattering of the classics; but, his artistic talent being already obvious, he was soon placed by his guardian in the studio of François Boucher. Boucher speedily realized that his own erotic style did not suit the lad's genius, and recommended him to J. M. Vien, the pioneer of the classical reaction in painting. Under him David studied for some years, and, after several attempts to win the Prix de Rome, at last succeeded in 1775, with his Loves of Antiochus and Stratonice. Vien, who had just been appointed director of the French Academy at Rome, carried the youth with him to that city. The classical reaction was now in full tide; Winckelmann was writing, Raphael Mengs painting; and the treasures of the Vatican galleries helped to confirm David in a taste already moulded by so many kindred influences. This severely classical spirit inspired his first important painting, Date obolum Belisario, exhibited at Paris in 1780. The picture exactly suited the temper of the times, and was an immense success. It was followed by others, painted on the same principles, but with greater perfection of art: The Grief of Andromache (1783), The Oath of the Horatii (Salon, 1785), The Death of Socrates, Love of Paris and Helen (1788), Brutus (1789). In the French drama an unimaginative imitation of ancient models had long prevailed; even in art Poussin and Le Sueur were successful by expressing a bias in the same direction; and in the first years of the revolutionary movement the fashion of imitating the ancients even in dress and manners went to the most extravagant length. At this very time David returned to Paris; he was now painter to the king, Louis XVI, who had been the purchaser of his principal works, and his popularity was soon immense. At the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, David was carried away by the flood of enthusiasm that made all the intellect of France believe in a new era of equality and emancipation from all the ills of life.
The success of his sketch for the picture of the Oath of the Tennis Court, and his pronounced republicanism, secured David's election to the Convention in September 1792, by the Section du Museum, and he quickly distinguished himself by the defence of two French artists in Rome who had fallen into the merciless hands of the Inquisition. As, in this matter, the behaviour of the authorities of the French Academy in Rome had been dictated by the tradition of subservience to authority, be used his influence to get it suppressed. In the January following his election into the Convention his vote was given for the king's death. Thus the man who was so greatly indebted to the Roman academy and to Louis XVI assisted in the destruction of both, no doubt in obedience to a principle, like the act of Brutus in condemning his sons - a subject he painted with all his powers. Cato and stoicism were the order of the day. Hitherto the actor had walked the stage in modern dress. Brutus had been applauded in red-heeled shoes and culottes jarretes; but Talma, advised by David, appeared in toga and sandals before an enthusiastic audience. At this period of his life Mademoiselle de Noailles persuaded him to paint a sacred subject, with Christ as the hero. When the picture was done, the Saviour was found to be another Cato. "I told you so," he replied to the expostulations of the lady, "there is no inspiration in Christianity now!" David's revolutionary ideas, which led to his election to the presidency of the Convention and to the committee of general security, inspired his pictures Last Moments of Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau and Marat Assassinated. He also arranged the programme of the principal republican festivals. When Napoleon rose to power David became his enthusiastic admirer. His picture of Napoleon on horseback pointing the way to Italy is now in Berlin. During this period he also painted the Rape of the Sabines and Leonidas at Thermopylae. Appointed painter to the emperor, David produced the two notable pictures The Coronation (of Josephine) and the Distribution of the Eagles.
Exile and Death
After the Bourbons returned to power, David was on the list of proscribed former revolutionaries and Bonapartists, as he had voted for the execution of Louis XVI and probably had something to do with the death of Louis XVII. Mistreated and starved, Louis XVII had been forced to confess to an incestuous relationship, while in prison, with his mother, Marie-Antoinette. (This allegation helped to guillotine her, but it was a lie as Louis was separated from his mother and not allowed to see her.) The new Bourbon King, Louis XVIII, however, granted David amnesty and even offered him a position as a court painter. David refused this offer, preferring instead to seek a self-imposed exile in Brussels. There, he painted Cupid and Psyche and lived out the last days of his life quietly with his wife, whom he had remarried. During this time, he largely devoted his efforts to smaller-scale paintings of mythological scenes and to portraits of Bruxellois and Napoleonic emigres, such as the Baron Gerard.
His last great work, begun in 1822 and finished the year before his death, was a subject from Greek mythology, Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Three Graces. In December 1823, he wrote: "This is the last picture I want to paint, but I want to surpass myself in it. I will put the date of my 75 years on it and afterwards I will never again pick up my brush." The finished canvas—reminiscent in its limpid coloration of a painting on porcelain—was first shown in Brussels and then was sent to Paris, where David's former students flocked to see the painting. The exhibit managed to bring in after operating costs, 13,000 francs, meaning there were more than 10,000 visitors, a huge number for the time.
When David was leaving the theater, he was hit by a carriage and later died of deformations to the heart in December 29, 1825. After his death, some of his portrait paintings were sold at auction in Paris, where they sold for very small sums. His famous painting of Marat was shown in a special secluded room so as not to outrage the public. David’s body was not allowed to return to France, despite pleas of his family, because of David's part in the execution of Louis XVI and was therefore buried at Evere Cemetery, Brussels. His heart was buried at Père Lachaise, Paris.
We offer 100% handmade oil painting reproduction from works by Jacques-Louis David as below:
Jacques-Louis David Paintings:Male Nude known as Patroclus
Jacques-Louis David Paintings:Napoleon at the St bernard pass
Jacques-Louis David Paintings:The Oath of the Horatii
Jacques-Louis David Paintings:The Intervention of the Sabine Women
Jacques-Louis David Paintings:Count Potocki
Jacques-Louis David Paintings:Christ on the Cross
Jacques-Louis David Paintings:Napoleon in his Study
You can also e-mail any images about Jacques-Louis David Paintings for production as normal price rate!
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