David was considered the most influential painter of the Neoclassical movement in France, characterized by a style of austere and ethical painting that reflects the moral climate of the last years of the ancien régime. He became an active revolutionary and worked for the new French Republic. He was then attracted to Napoleon I and developed an Empire style marked by warm Venetian color. Following the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1816, David went into exile in Brussels. He had a large number of pupils, and his influence was felt by the majority of French 19th-century painters. His compositional innovations were a break with the existing Rococo fantasy. Comment on works: Portraits: History.

David, Jacques-Louis

Biography

Notable Works

Artworks

Heads of a faun and a young woman (Les têtes d'une jeune femme et d'un faune)

Paris and Helen

Paris and Helen (Anonymous Tracing after d ’Hancarville)

George III Leading an Army of Jugs

The Death of Socrates

Copy after David's "The Death of Socrates"

Seated Gentleman

Study for The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons

Hermaphrodite

Head of a Child

General Étienne-Maurice Gérard (1773–1852)

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and Marie Anne Lavoisier (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836)

The Death of Socrates

The Death of Socrates

A Young Woman of Frascati

Portrait of J. Louis David

Inside Attire of the French Citizen

Civil Garb of the French Citizen

Inside Attire of the French Citizen

The Legislator in Office

Civil Garb of the French Citizen

The Representative of the French People in Office

Civil Garb of the French Citizen

Study for the Wife and Daughters of Brutus (recto); Study of a Male Nude (verso)