Leonidas at Thermopylae
ca. 1812–13
Medium
Black chalk; squared in black chalk
Dimensions
16 x 21 5/8 in. (40.6 x 54.9 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1963
Accession Number
63.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jacques-Louis David, the preeminent French Neoclassical artist, captured the epic heroism of *Leonidas at Thermopae* in this striking black chalk drawing from around 1812–13. The work depicts the legendary Spartan king Leon and his 300 warriors defying overwhelming Persian forces at the narrow pass of Thermopylae in 480 BCE—a pivotal moment in the Greco-Persian Wars that symbolized unyielding bravery and sacrifice. David's squared grid indicates it was a preparatory study, for his monumental 1814 oil painting on the same theme, allowing precise enlargement while emphasizing muscular male nudes...
About the Artist
Jacques Louis David · 1748–1825
Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825), born in Paris on August 30 to a prosperous family, faced early tragedy when his father was killed in a duel around age nine. Raised by his mother's two architect uncles after his mother departed, David overcame family resistance to architecture and a facial tumor that hindered his speech and studies at the Collège des Quatre-Nations. He began training under the Roc...