Jacques-Louis David facts for kids

Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David
	Self portrait of Jacques-Louis David, 1794, Musée du Louvre
Birth name	Jacques-Louis David
Born	30 August 1748; Paris, France
Died	29 December 1825 (aged 77); Brussels, Belgium
Nationality	France
Field	Painting, Drawing
Movement	Neoclassicism
Works	Oath of the Horatii (1784), The Death of Marat (1793)
Awards	Prix de Rome

Jacques-Louis David (30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was both a politician and an artist who lived during the French Revolution. As a politician, he is most famous for being one of the handful of leaders that governed France during the most violent part of the French Revolution. David believed that France should not have a monarchy and instead it should be a Republic.

As a painter, Jacques-Louis David wanted artwork to be political. He often painted heroes from myths or history that he believed represented good ideals such as strength, brotherhood, and virtue. His paintings are very realistic and often portray heroes from Ancient Greece and Rome. This is called the Neoclassical style of painting. He developed his 'Empire style', notable for its use of warm Venetian colours. David had a huge number of pupils, making him the strongest influence in French art of the 19th century, especially academic Salon painting.

One of David's most famous paintings is of his best friend Jean-Paul Marat who was killed during the French Revolution. David's painting helped make Marat into a popular martyred hero.

His last great work, Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Three Graces was begun in 1822 and was finished the year before his death. “David wanted to outdo himself once more. In December 1823, he wrote: "This is the last picture I want to paint, but I want to surpass myself in it. I will put the date of my 75 years on it and afterwards I will never again pick up my brush."

The subject is taken from Greek mythology. The coloring is translucent and pearly, like painting on porcelain.” The painting was first shown in Brussels and then was sent to Paris, where David's former students flocked to see the it. The exhibit managed to bring in after operating costs, 13,000 francs, meaning there were more than 10,000 visitors, a huge amount for the time.

When David was leaving the theater, he was hit by a carriage and later died of deformations to the heart in December 29, 1824. David’s body was not allowed into France as he had voted to have the King of France Louis XVI killed with the guillotine which caused him to be exiled at the age of 65, after the French Revolution began to fail. Therefore he was buried in Brussels, but his heart was buried at Père Lachaise, Paris.

Images for kids

Mademoiselle Guimard as Terpsichore, 1774–5, an early work
Equestrian portrait of Stanisław Kostka Potocki (1781)
Oath of the Horatii (second version; 1786)
Drawing by Jacques-Louis David of the Tennis Court Oath. David later became a deputy in the National Convention in 1792
Portrait de Napoléon Jacques-Louis David
The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David (1793)
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries (1812) National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass (1801)
Historical painter encouraged by the government, 1814 caricature, bodleian library
The Coronation of Napoleon, (1806)
The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte (1821)
Self-Portrait (1791)
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, 1817
Antiochus and Stratonica (1774), École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his wife (1788), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Portrait of Anne-Marie-Louise Thélusson, Comtesse de Sorcy (1790), Neue Pinakothek, Munich
Portrait of Pierre Sériziat, (1795), Louvre Museum
Portrait of Madame de Verninac (1798–1799), born Henriette Delacroix, elder sister of Eugène Delacroix, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Madame Récamier (1800), Musée du Louvre, Paris
Suzanne Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau (1804), The J. Paul Getty Museum
Portrait of Pope Pius VII (1805), Musée du Louvre, Paris
Marguerite-Charlotte David (1813), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Étienne-Maurice Gérard (1816), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Comtesse Vilain XIIII and Her Daughter (1816), National Gallery, London
Portrait of the Comte de Turenne (1816), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis (1818)
The Anger of Achilles (1825), Private Collection