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The Wife and Daughters of Brutus
Jacques Louis David French
Not on view
It was David’s practice to begin by depicting his figures nude, presumably to ensure that the anatomy and proportions were correct before adding clothing. Here, he studies the complex grouping of Brutus’s wife and daughters, using wash to capture the strong fall of light. The superimposed grid was a method of transferring the forms to another sheet.
He would later revise their poses, the moment of inspiration captured in a schematic red chalk sketch hanging nearby.
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