It must not have been long after his arrival in Rome that David tried his hand at a tradition venerated among French artists visiting Italy: drawing young Italian women in regional dress. He would have been aware of precedents by Nicolas Vleughels, Jean Barbault, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze, if not from the works themselves, then from the engravings made after them, which featured full-length figures, detailed costumes, and identifying captions.
In David’s Young Woman of Frascati, the subject is shown standing and in strict profile, with a long headscarf falling to a point behind her back and a tight-waisted, striped dress embellished with ribbons at the shoulder. However, unlike the earlier tradition which focusing on details of dress, here the subject is presented at half-length and bathed in natural light, her fresh features and upswept hair outshining the details of her costume.
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Artwork Details
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Title:A Young Woman of Frascati
Artist:Jacques Louis David (French, Paris 1748–1825 Brussels)
Date:ca. 1775–76
Medium:Red chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink, irregularly cut
Dimensions:Sheet: 6 x 5 3/8 in. (15.3 x 13.7 cm) (irregularly cut)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2012
Accession Number:2012.150.2
Inscription: Annotated in pen and brown ink at lower right with the paraphs of David’s two sons, Jules David (Lugt 1437), above, and Eugene David (Lugt 839), below.
Marking: In black ink at lower left, the stamp of Baron Roger Portalis (Lugt 2232).
Collection of the artist, Jacques Louis David (French); included in his inventaire après décès, Feb. 27, 1826; estate sale of Jacques Louis David (French), Paris, April 17, 1826, no. 59; purchased by M. Guéret (French); Baron Roger Portalis (French), Paris; sale, Hôtel des Ventes du Vieux Palais, Rouen, October 20, 1996, no. 64 (no catalogue); Private collection, France; sale, Sotheby's, New York, January 23, 2001, no. 317; Katrin Bellinger Kunsthandel, Munich; sold to Wrightsman; Mrs. Charles Wrightsman (American), New York, from 2001
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman," February 17–May 15, 2022.
Rosenberg and Prat 9
Jacques-Louis-Jules David Le peintre Louis David, 1748-1825: Souvenirs & documents inédits. Paris, 1880, p. 653.
Daniel Wildenstein, Guy Wildenstein Documents complémentaires au catalogue de l'oeuvre de Louis David. The Wildenstein Foundation Inc., Paris, 1973, p. 238, no. 2042, item 78, and p. 245, no. 2062, item 59.
Pierre Rosenberg From Drawing to Painting: Poussin, Watteau, Fragonard, David and Ingres. Princeton, 2000, pp. 180-81, fig. 228.
Pierre Rosenberg, Louis-Antoine Prat Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825: Catalogue raisonné des dessins. 2 vols., Milan, 2002, vol. 1, p. 34, no. 9.
Everett Fahy, Pierre Rosenberg, Elizabeth E. Barker, George R. Goldner et al. The Wrightsman Pictures. New York and New Haven, 2005, cat. no. 71, ill.
Perrin Stein, Daniella Berman, Philippe Bordes, Mehdi Korchane, Benjamin Peronnet, Louis-Antoine Prat, Juliette Trey Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman. New York, 2022, cat. no. 5, 80-81, ill.
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