In the Orbit of Jacques Louis David: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints

The Department of Drawings and Prints boasts more than one million drawings, prints, and illustrated books made in Europe and the Americas from around 1400 to the present day. Because of their number and sensitivity to light, the works can only be exhibited for a limited period and are usually housed in on-site storage facilities. To highlight the vast range of works on paper, the department organizes four rotations a year in The Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery. Each installation is the product of a collaboration among curators and consists of up to one hundred objects grouped by artist, technique, style, period, or subject.

This installation highlights the broad range of accomplishments of artists working at the same time as French painter Jacques Louis David (1748–1825). Whether they emulated his manner or sought their own paths, shared his political beliefs or condemned them, artists of this period could hardly escape the impact of David’s work.

Works on view by David’s peers, pupils, and rivals explore the creativity and capacity for transformation that marked this vital period that spanned the last years of the French monarchy, the Revolution, the rise of Napoleon, and ultimately, the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. The fast pace of political change accentuated the intertwined nature of art and politics, which permeated all levels of artistic production—from large-scale paintings to the decorative arts and fashion—as this selection of drawings and prints attests.

This display complements the exhibition Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman in galleries 691-693 (February 17 – May 15, 2022).

Exhibition Objects

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Ruins of the Palatine Hill, Joseph Benoît Suvée French, Red chalk — Ruins of the Palatine Hill
Joseph Benoît Suvée
ca. 1772–76

The Punishment of the Arrogant Niobe by Diana and Apollo, Pierre Charles Jombert French, Oil paint on canvas, mounted on board — The Punishment of the Arrogant Niobe by Diana and Apollo
Pierre Charles Jombert
ca. 1772

Dido's Sacrifice to Juno, Jean Bernard Restout French, Oil paint, over pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, on paper, mounted on canvas — Dido's Sacrifice to Juno
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1772–74

The Death of Seneca, Jean Guillaume Moitte French, Pen and black ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache on blue paper — The Death of Seneca
Jean Guillaume Moitte
ca. 1770–90

The Despair of Hecuba, Pierre Peyron French, Pen and black ink, gray wash — The Despair of Hecuba
Pierre Peyron
ca. 1784

Kneeling Draped Male Figure, Jean Guillaume Moitte French, Red chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink — Kneeling Draped Male Figure
Jean Guillaume Moitte
1776

The Virgin Placing St. Teresa of Avila Under the Protection of St. Joseph, François Guillaume Ménageot French, Oil paint over pen and brown ink, on paper, mounted on canvas — The Virgin Placing St. Teresa of Avila Under the Protection of St. Joseph
François Guillaume Ménageot
ca. 1787

The Clemency of Augustus (recto); Knight Restraining a Female Figure (verso), François André Vincent French, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of red chalk; perspective lines in graphite (recto). Red chalk; squared in red chalk (verso). — The Clemency of Augustus (recto); Knight Restraining a Female Figure (verso)
François André Vincent
ca. 1787–88

Youth Sleeping in a Chair, François André Vincent French, Black chalk, heightened with white on brownish paper — Youth Sleeping in a Chair
François André Vincent
ca. 1771–72

Image Credits

Marquee: Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson, The Mourning of Pallas (detail), ca. 1790–93. Pen and brown ink, brush and gray and brown wash, heightened with white. The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1996 (1996.567)