Jacques-Louis David was the son of a prosperous merchant. He
was educated at the Collège des Quatre-Nations of the University
of Paris. His family wanted him to become an architect but he
wanted to be a painter and went to François Boucher, who sent
him to Joseph-Marie Vien. After several failed attempts he won
the Prix de Rome in 1774 and with Vien he travelled to Rome
in 1775. In 1780 he returned to Paris, where he became famous
for his portraits. He was elected a member of the l'Académie
royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. In 1787 he exhibited "La
Mort de Socrate" at the Salon.
He was a supporter of
the French Revolution, a friend of Robespierre and a member
of the Club des Jacobins. In 1792 he was elected into the National
Convention and he voted for the execution of Louis XVI. This
resulted in his wife leaving and divorcing him in 1794. He was
a member of the Art Commission and nicknamed 'the Robespierre
of the brush'. In 1793 he made the famous sketch of Marie Antoinette
on her way to the scaffold (now at The Louvre in Paris). In
that same year his friend Marat was killed by Charlotte Corday
and "La Mort de Marat" (1793) is probably his most famous painting.
When Robespierre was executed he narrowly escaped the same faith
but he was imprisoned in 1794 and again in 1795. But he was
allowed to paint during his imprisonments and his wife returned
to him and they remarried.
He was impressed by Napoleon
and in 1797 he sketched him. In 1799 he returned to public notice
with his giant canvas "The Intervention of the Sabine Women".
Napoleon liked it and in the same year he commissioned him to
paint his crossing of the Alps. In 1804 he witnessed Napoleon's
coronation and he became Royal Painter to the emperor. After
Napoleon's fall Louis XVIII granted him amnesty and offered
him the position of court painter, but David preferred to leave
France and he lived in Brussels afterwards. There he finished
his last important work "Mars Being Disarmed by Venus" in 1824.
In
1825 he was struck by a carriage after leaving a theatre and
he died on 29 December 1825. A burial in France wasn't allowed
because he had voted for the death of Louis XVI and he was buried
at the Saint-Josse-ten-Noode cemetery in Brussels. His remains
were moved to the Cimetière de Bruxelles in 1882. It has been
stated that his heart was buried with his wife in Père Lachaise
but this remains unclear.
Family
• Wife: David, Charlotte (1782-1825)
Related persons
• used as a model Aubry, Thérèse
• was teacher of Bonaparte, Charlotte Napoléon
• was a friend of Denon, Vivant
• was teacher of Fragonard, Alexandre-Évariste
• was teacher of Gérard, François
• was teacher of Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, Anne Louis
• was teacher of Gros, Antoine-Jean
• was teacher of Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique
• was teacher of Isabey, Jean Baptiste
• was teacher of Klinkowström, Friedrich August von
• drew Marie Antoinette, queen of France
• worked for Napoleon I Bonaparte
• was teacher of Paulze, Marie-Anne Pierrette
• painted Paulze, Marie-Anne Pierrette
• painted Récamier, Juliette
• met Saint-Ours, Jean Pierre
• was painted by Schmeller, Johann Joseph
• was teacher of Wächter, Eberhard von
|
Events
| | |
