Daphnis Running toward Chloe

Art Historical Context

Baron François Gérard, a leading French Neoclassical artist and pupil of Jacques-Louis David, created this delicate drawing around 1798. The scene captures a tender moment from the ancient Greek romance *Daphnis and Chloe* by Longus, in which the young shepherd Daphnis rushes toward his beloved. At a time when France was emerging from revolution, Gérard’s work reflects the era’s renewed interest in classical themes of love, innocence, and pastoral harmony. Executed in black chalk with brown and gray washes, heightened by white gouache on light tan paper, the drawing showcases Gérard’s mastery of light and texture. The medium allows for soft modeling of figures and a luminous quality that brings the youthful couple to life within a compact sheet measuring roughly 11 by 9 inches. Such preparatory studies were essential to the artist’s polished history paintings and portraits. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2012, this work offers visitors an intimate glimpse into the creative process behind Neoclassical storytelling and the enduring appeal of an ancient love story.

About the Artist

baron François Gérard · 1770–1837

**Baron François Gérard (1770–1837)** was a leading French Neoclassical painter renowned for his elegant portraits of European royalty and political figures. Born François Pascal Simon Gérard in Rome to a French father serving in the Papal States and an Italian mother, he returned with his family to Paris around 1782. There he began his artistic training, first studying sculpture under Augustin Pa...