The Representative of the French People in Office
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 13 11/16 x 9 7/16 in. (34.8 x 23.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1964
Accession Number
64.682.343
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1794 during the turbulent French, *The Representative of the French People in Office* is etching attributed to Jacques-Louis David, the era's leading Neoclassical painter, Baron Dominique Vivant Den, a versatile artist and diplomat. This captures the revolutionary fervor of the time, likely portraying one of the powerful "Representatives on Mission"—deputies dispatched by the National Convention to enforce radical reforms across France amid the Reign of Terror. David, a fervent supporter of the Revolution and later imprisoned for his Jacobin ties, excelled in grand, heroic composit...
About the Artist
Jacques Louis David|baron Dominique Vivant Denon · 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...