Seated Man and Swaddled Baby
c. 1810
Medium
Graphite on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
17.7 × 31 cm (7 × 12 1/4 in.)
Classification
graphite
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
113574
Art Historical Context
In the quiet intimacy of *Seated Man and Swaddled Baby*, created around 1810, Jacques-Louis David, the preeminent master of French Neoclassicism, from his monumental historical canvases. By this time, David—celebrated for revolutionary icons like *The Death of Marat* and Napoleonic epics—had entered a reflective phase amid the shifting tides of the Napoleonic era. This graphite drawing on ivory wove paper captures a tender domestic moment: a seated man cradling a swaddled infant, evoking classical ideals of paternal devotion while hinting at personal or preparatory study. David's virtuoso use...
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...