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| jacques louis david |
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| David eventually lost out in the confused politics of the 1790s, was imprisoned under the moderate Directory and ultimately saved by the intervention of his estranged wife, whom he later remarried in 1796. David's Intervention of the Sabine Women (a work which strained his Classicism in the search for Greek purity), begun while he was in prison, is said to have been painted to honor her, its theme being one of love prevailing over conflict. It was also interpreted at the time, however, as a plea for conciliation in the civil strife that France suffered after the Revolution. |
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| The Sabine Women, 1796-99 |
| The Sabine Women was the work that re-established David's fortunes and brought him to the attention of Napoleon, who appointed him his official painter. David became an ardent supporter of Napoleon and retained under him the dominant social and artistic position which he had previously held. Between 1802 and 1807 he painted a series of pictures glorifying the exploits of the Emperor, among them the enormous Coronation of Napoleon. These works show a change both in technique and in feeling from the earlier Republican works. The cold colors and severe compositions of the heroic paintings gave place to a new feeling for pageantry which had something in common with Romantic painting, although he always remained opposed to the Romantic school. |
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| Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 Dec 1804, 1807 |
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| Napoleon at St. Bernard, 1800 |
| Napoleon in his Study, 1812 |