Meta-Impressionism / other artists:

Jacque-Louis David

1748 – 1825

Father of Néo-Classicism

Introduction:
Jacque-Louis David was born 1748/08/30 in Paris. He life was intertwined with the political developments in his days. 1825/12/29 he died in exile in Brussels. David can be seen as the father of Néo-Classicism. His pupil Ingres made it the dominant painting style of (the first half of) the 19th century.
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David as an artist:
David studied with François Boucher (1703–1770), who was a Rococo painter and with Joseph-Marie Vien (1716–1809) and attended the Royal Academy. In 1774, after 3 failures, he won the Prix de Rome and subsequently studied at the French Academy in Rome from 1775 till 1780.

David at the Salon:
He made his debut at the Salon of 1781. In 1782 he started his own atelier having many illustrious pupils, the most famous being Ingres.

 

David at the Exposition Universelle:
Some works of David were posthumously exhibited at the Exposition Universelle.
At the Exposition Centennale in 1900 there were 10 paintings shown of him and 4 more attributed to him, of which 11 were portraits (R231-2).

 

David and contemporary politics:
David had republican sympathies and supported the French revolution (1789), rendering in some paintings the unity of men in the service of a patriotic ideal. Before the Revolution the Royal Academy was controlled by royalists, who opposed David’s attempts at reform. After the Revolution the National Assembly ordered it to make changes to conform to the new constitution.
After 1799, when Napoleon had become the first consul, David would become the court painter of Napoleon. After the imprisonnement of Napoleon and the reinstallation of the Bourbon monarchy, David went in 1816 in exile and died in 1825 in Brussels. Still, his works were continued to be bought by the French state.

David in the Légion d’Honneur:
David was appointed in the Légion d’honneur, in 1803 as Chevalier, in 1808 as Officier and in 1815 as Commandeur.

 

David in collections:
Paintings of David were bought by art-collectors. One of them was Henri Rouart.

 

Sources:
Catalogues of the Salon (R337; iR1).
Catalogues of the Expositions Universelle (R231).
R13,p170/1;R293,p366-379;
Info and pictures on the internet: iR3; iR4; iR6; iR23.
See the link for other general References (=Rx) and to the internet references (=iRx).
See links for practical hints and abbreviations and for the subscription of the paintings.

 

For further reading:

 

Additional references:

 

 

Recommanded citation: “Meta-Impressionism: Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), the father of néo-classicism. Last modified 2025/11/18. https://www.impressionism.nl/david-1748-1825/”

 

Note: additional info and pictures will be added.