Creator story
Surprising fact
David painted his murdered friend Marat dead in his bath; he was himself a revolutionary deputy who voted for the king's execution.
Source: Wikipedia / WikimediaNeoclassicism
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825) was the master of Neoclassicism and the artistic voice of the French Revolution and Napoleon. His austere, heroic canvases turned painting into political power.
David dominated French art for a generation, training a host of painters and defining the Neoclassical style across Europe.
- Defined Neoclassicism with austere, heroic history paintings.
- Served the Revolution and then Napoleon as a kind of state artist.
- Painted The Death of Marat and the grand Coronation of Napoleon.
Key works
Two works that open the world of Jacques-Louis David
These works make it easiest to see how the artist changed form, content, and the very way art could exist in culture.
1793
The Death of Marat
The Death of Marat is a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting the artist's friend and murdered French revolutionary leader, Jean-Paul Marat.
1784
The Oath of the Horatii
Oath of the Horatii is a large painting by the French artist Jacques-Louis David painted in 1784 and 1785 and now on display in the Louvre in Paris. The painting immediately became a huge success with critics and the public and remains one of the best-known paintings in the Neoclassical style.