The Prisoner
Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)
c. 1816–22
Medium
black chalk on cream laid paper
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.131,"width":0.196}}
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1973.36
Tags
male
About this artwork
This drawing belongs to a series of enigmatic sheets that the French artist Jacques-Louis David created while living as an exile in Brussels from 1816 until his death in 1825. Many of these untitled works present close-up views of expressive heads and were given by the artist to his friends. This image of a turbaned man next to a hanging chain and oil lamp loosely references David's painting The Intercession of Saint Roch (1780) from much earlier in his career.