2. First created July 2005. Version 2.0 - 6 March 2012. Jerry Tse. London. All rights reserved. Rights belong to their respective owners. Available free for non-commercial and personal use. Jacques-Louis David The greatest painter of the Neo Classism Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) and Neoclassicism David is the most important Neoclassicist painter. Neoclassicism was a movement which attempts to recreate the art of ancient the Greeks and Romans. He was at the forefront of the movement and imerged in the revolutionary idealism of his time. Only to find himself in exile and the decline of Neoclassicism at the end of his life. It was a revolutionary dream that has gone sour. The portrait of the Artist. 1794. Oil on Canvas. 81x64 cm. Jacques-Louis David. Musee du Louvre, Paris

3. Neoclassicism Neoclassicists imitated antique art both in style and subject matter. For David, this meant using classical poses or paintings set in a Greek or Roman context. His style was technically commanding but at times austere or academic. David adopted a highly theoretical and intellectual approach, leading to the use of formal and theatrical gestures. Many of his works are painted on large canvas. His art became official art of the French Revolution and of the Napoleonic Empire. Like his contemporary cartoonist, Daumier, he was closely involved in revolutionary politics. He was one of the first painters of propaganda, introducing politics into paintings. His politics nearly led him to the guillotine. He died in Brussels in 1825 at the age 77.

4. It was David’s first commission for an altarpiece for the chapel of the Lazaret (quarantine centre) in Marseille.

5. This was David first Neoclassical styled painting, in which a the Byzantine general Belisarius, who was accused of treason and disgraced. His eyes were put out and became an outcast. He was recognized by one of the soldier served under him as he received alms from a woman.

7. This was the first painting that bought fame to David. It was a defining images of its time before the French Revolution. The painting emphasizes the citizen’s loyalty to the state rather than the clan or clergy. The family of Horatii was chosen to fight the family from Alba Longa to settle a dispute between the city of Rome and the city of Alba Longa. The painting was a depiction of dutiful patriotism, with austere and formal theatrical poses. The focal point is the sword, the tension of the sons and the father and the weeping women in the corner all spaced out in a stage-like settings.

8. One of the sister was killed by her own brother for crying for the enemy, as she was betrothed to the Alba Longa’s family.

10. The Storming of Bastille. Beginning of the French Revolution.

11. Brutus the First Consul of the Roman Republic sitting on the left of the painting under a shadow, having condemned his two sons for plotting against the Republic, with the last king of Rome. David’s message of self- sacrifice for the Republican ideals is very clear. The painting was completed, after the storming of the Bastille began and the French Revolution had begun, but the government of the king was still in power. When the newspapers reported the authority had banned the painting, the people were outraged and the government was forced to give in. The painting went on to be shown in exhibitions, defended by art students.

13. The beginning of the French Republic

14. Marat, a leader of the French revolution and a friend of David was killed by his Royalist rival. David painted Marat’s limp arm by the bath, a similar pose to Michelangelo’s Pieta in St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Marat

17. In 1795, David, the political activist was imprisoned. He started to work on the painting from 1796, when France was at war other European nations and civil conflicts within the French Republic, culminating in the Reign of Terror. While he was in prison, he was regularly visited by his loyal wife, Charlotte Pecoul and his four children. Even though they were divorced since 1794. They remarried again after securing his release. The painting was a tribute to his wife and a recognition of the power of women as a peacemakers. It is also a plea of reconciliation and to reunite after the bloodshed and terror of the revolution. Roman captured the Sabine Women to be their wives. The painting showed that the Sabine women rushed with their babies, between their husbands and their brothers & fathers to stop the fighting. Napoleon staged a coup and end of the Constitutional Republic

20. Napoleon rising power

21. The painting was in such demand that five versions were painted.

22. Napoleon crowned as emperor

24. The emperor finally betrayed the ideals of the Republic.

26. David had begun the painting in 1798 as a companion piece to the Intervention of the Sabine Woman. However, it was completed much later in 1814. The 300 Spartans, led by their king Leonidas, were prepared to sacrifice their lives for Greece. They were finally killed only after their heroic defeat to ensured the safe retreat of the Greek fleet.

27. Napoleon defeated

28. David exile in Brussels

32. Madame Recamier A natural beauty or an earthly woman?

33. Madame Recamier (1777-1848) On the right is a painting of Madame Recamier by an unknown artist. Madame Recamier married a wealthy banker at the tender age of 15 and kept her virginity into middle age. David painted her portrait when she was 23. Her natural beauty was enhanced by a simple dress and a hair band. David’s portrait was unfinished due to a disagreement between the artist and the subject. The background of the painting is bare contrasting with David’s more polished works. David painted the charming young maiden with grace and elegance, as though she had just turned to look at us who had entered the room. She is painted with brown hair instead of her darker natural colour, to suit the colour scheme. Note. I cannot find the painter who painted the above portrait of Madame Recamier.

34. Gerard’s Madame Recamier. Madame Recamier. 1802. 255x145cm. Francois Gerard. French. Musee Carnavalet, Paris. This painting was painted by Francois- Pascal Gerard, a former pupil of David, two years later. Gerard was asked to paint her. He was the most successful society portrait artist of the day. Hearing this news, David left his painting unfinished. Comparing the three portraits, it appears that Gerard has achieved a better likeness than David. Given David was such a good painter, it is possible he was trying to give her a more elegant look. Two of the portraits show her with black hair, a seductive look, a low cut dress and bare shoulders. Gerard gave his painting a rosy tint, a gentle smile and a more youthful look. At the time, this was considered to be flattering.

35. A Comparison of the two Madame Recamier. Madame Recamier in David’s painting, as charming, natural, graceful and elegant yet a little distant. Her hair is more natural but a little unkempt. In Gerard’s painting, she was lovely, simple, pretty and flirtatious. In contrast, her hair in the painting is neat.

36. Magrette’s Madame Recamier. The piece of furniture today is known as a Recamier couch. Rene Magrette, the Surrealist painter, made a series of paintings based on 19th Century French artists, substituting coffins for figures. The graceful and charming beauty of Madame Recamier is no long there but replaced by a cold and emotionless coffin. Magrette painted a piece of clothing left behind, giving us a hint of her previous existence. Perspective :Madame Recamier by David. 1951. Oil on canvas. 60.5x80.5 cm. Rene Margritte. French. National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa.

39. All rights reserved. Rights belong to their respective owners. Available free for non-commercial and personal use. Music – Andre Rieu. I Dreamed a Dream, from the musical, Les Miserables by Claude–Michel Schonberg, based on a novel by Victor Hugo on the French Revolution The End