id: 166621 accession number: 2008.343 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.343 updated: 2024-03-26 02:01:12.015000 Study of the Sabine Statue from the Villa Medici, c. 1775–1780. Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825). Pen and brown ink and brush and gray wash; sheet: 21.4 x 14.8 cm (8 7/16 x 5 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.343 title: Study of the Sabine Statue from the Villa Medici title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1775–1780 creation date earliest: 1775 creation date latest: 1780 current location: creditline: Bequest of Muriel Butkin copyright: --- culture: France, 18th century technique: pen and brown ink and brush and gray wash department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825) - artist The founder and leading painter of the neoclassical movement in France, Jacques-Louis David was born in Paris to a prosperous family of artists and archi-tects. In 1766 he entered the Académie Royale as the pupil of Joseph-Marie Vien (1716-1809). After several failed attempts, David won the Prix de Rome in 1774. The following year he left for Italy, where he studied antique art and envisioned replacing the frivolity of the rococo with an art of grandeur, simplicity, and moral virtue. After returning to Paris in 1780, he established his reputa-tion with three spectacular successes at the Salon: The Oath of the Horatii (1785, Musée du Louvre, Paris), The Death of Socrates (1787, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), and The Lictors Bring-ing Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789, Musée du Louvre, Paris). Widely interpreted as moral parables for contemporary political events, these archetypes of neoclassical aesthetics set the standard for academic painting of the next century. In the 1790s David joined the radical Jacobin Club and played an active role in the French Revolution. He allied himself with Robespierre, served a short term as president of the Convention, and voted for the execution of Louis XVI. He also placed his artistic talents at the service of the Revolution by creating paintings that glorified its martyrs and by organizing public festivals that celebrated the new political order. As the most prominent artist in the revolutionary ranks, he led the attack against the Académie Royale that culminated in its abolish-ment in 1793. When the excesses of the Reign of Terror precipitated the fall of Robespierre in 1794, David was imprison-ed but spared execution. Authorities released him the following year due to ill health. Around 1798 David developed a new alliance with the brilliant young general of the Directory, Napoléon Bonaparte. David's painting The Intervention of the Sabine Women (1799, Musée du Louvre, Paris) coalesced perfectly with Napoleonic propaganda urging national reconciliation. After the coup d'état of 1799, Napoléon was named first consul and began supplying David with important commissions. Upon Napoléon's coronation in 1804, David was appointed first painter to the emperor. David's monumental painting The Coronation of Napoléon, or Le Sacre (1805-7, Musée du Louvre, Paris), introduced a less spartan, more colorful and emotive style. However, as seen in his life-size portrait Napoléon in His Study (1812, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), David increasingly searched to balance this new heroic-romanticism with an exacting realism. In 1816, following Napoléon's defeat at Waterloo and the restoration of the monarchy, David went into exile in Belgium. He spent the last nine years of his life in Brussels, painting mostly mythological subjects and portraits. David died of a stroke in 1825 and was denied burial in France. --- measurements: Sheet: 21.4 x 14.8 cm (8 7/16 x 5 13/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: cream laid paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: by artist, lower left, in brown ink: ala villa / medicis; by Jules David, lower left, in brown ink: J. D. [Lugt 1437]; by Eugène David, lower right, in brown ink: E D _ [Lugt 839] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin opening date: 2001-08-26T00:00:00 French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Estate of the artist [first atelier sale, Paris (17 April 1826), no. 66 (Album 10 of the "douze grands livres de croquis")]; [second atelier sale, Paris (11 March 1835), no. 16 (Album 10)]; M. A. Chassagnolle, Paris, as of 1835 (Album 10); Solange de Ludre Frolois (marquise de Ludre) (?-1949) (Album 10); marquise de Lau d'Allemans (Album 10) (according to Butkin records); Madame de Chaumont-Quitry (Album 10) (according to Butkin records); [Galerie Charpentier, Paris (15 March 1956), no. 11 (Album 10)]; [Germain Seligmann, New York (1958?)]; [Christie's, London (7 July 1959), no. 53 ("Squires" according to typed price list of sale)]; [Sotheby's, London (4 July 1975), no. 149]; [Jenkins Company, Austin, Texas]; [Stuart Greenspan, New York (1979)]; purchased in 1979. date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: Referenced: cat. no. 17, p. 44-45, Reproduced: p. 45 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.343/2008.343_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.343/2008.343_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.343/2008.343_full.tif