Study of a Pyramid
Medium
Brush and brown wash over graphite
Dimensions
3 5/8 x 6 1/16 in. (9.2 x 15.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Edward Pearce Casey Fund, 1979
Accession Number
1979.617
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jacques-Louis David, the preeminent French Neoclassical painter of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, created this intimate *Study of a Pyramid* graphite underdrawing enhanced by brush and brown wash. At just 3 5/8 x 6 1/16 inches, this undated sheet exemplifies the artist's meticulous preparatory technique, where loose graphite lines capture the pyramid's monumental form, and translucent brown wash adds depth and shadow, evoking the ancient structure's solidity and mystery. David's Neoclassicism drew heavily from Greco-Roman antiquity, but this drawing reflects the era's growing fascina...
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...