Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Portrait of a Man
Jacques Louis David French
Not on view
It was during a period of imprisonment in 1795 that David created one of his most singular and haunting achievements as a draftsman: a series of portraits of his fellow prisoners—all former allies of Maximilien Robespierre, a Revolutionary statesman who had led the bloody period known as the Terror.
In contrast to his usual schematic technique, David here uses careful ink lines and subtle gradations of wash to record his subjects with psychological intensity. They seem to face their uncertain futures with a mix of bravery and apprehension. The medallion format, associated with antiquity, suggests an urge to memorialize, but in this context it also evokes confinement.
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