Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile (Clark Art Institute)

Description

---

Customer Reviews

Jacques-Louis Eavid: Empire to Exile
What a great book, and what a man, survived three dinastes, painted like no other and inspired a nation to glory. Buy it and enjoy a wonderful story.

2010-02-05 (Bloomfield, MI, US) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Book well documented and well illustrated
It is the catalog of a recent exhibition of works of Jacques-Louis David, mostly portraits and drawings, the text presents many details, and illustrations of the portraits are superb.

2010-01-02 (Spain) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

---

A FRENCH NEOCLASSIC MASTER
This excellent book published on the occasion of an exhibition
presents two remarkable personalities of this painter - a celebrated and controversial painter of his time and his connection with Napoleon Buonaparte.The second helped him in the way to the admiration , after a revolutionary republican beginning.The first cannot forget a notable draftman and painter,with followers such as Gros , Ingres,Thévenin,...
Even in the exile,his portraits are precious.Connecting or not
one part of his life as official painter of Napoleon, forgetting
or not his revolutionary starting , David remains ,as Stendhal
defended , the greatest painter of 18th century.

2006-02-24 (Lisbonne, Portugal Portugal) | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 4

---

Jacques-Louis David, Revolutionary Artist: Art, Politics, and the French Revolution

Description

The lifetime of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) coincides with the most tumultuous period in the history of France and much of the Western world. And David's life was closely bound up with the changes that were taking place in French politics, society, and culture. Although most other scholars have focused either on David's artistic activity or on his political career, Warren Roberts examines the connections between these two aspects of his life. Using a historical approach, Roberts provides an interpretation of David's art that illuminates David the man.

Roberts presents David's art as a personal record that is an extension of his inner life and a product of historical conditions. David's art, like his character and his actions, cannot be fully understood without understanding the changes that led to and then flowed from the French Revolution. Roberts here considers these changes and their impact on David from the perspectives of the historian and the art historian, and he comes to conclusions that are important for both.

---

Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Louis Prieur, Revolutionary Artists: The Public, the Populace, and Images of the French Revolution

Description

A comparative study of the French Revolution's most famous artist and a little-known illustrator.

By offering a comparative study of Jacques-Louis David, the most famous artist of the French Revolution, and Jean-Louis Prieur, a little-known illustrator, this book tracks the political careers of the two artists and offers new insights to the relationship between the arts and the politics of the French Revolution.

---

Customer Reviews

A wonderful book on the French Revolution
The first part of the editorial review is definitely about another book by Uwe Lajer-Burcharth (Necklines) and is not about this book. Only the second part of the review refers to this book but I disagree that this book is recommended only for libraries. I found this book to be quite an intoxicating read as the other reader reviewer has stated.
Here, Warren Roberts display a very lucid understanding of the chronological events of the French revolution as it unfolded and has written a key account, linking it specifically to the lives of two artists who were inextricably linked up with the key events.
The book is divided into 5 sections. An introduction outlines the situation that France found herself in shortly before the French revolution took place. Then the next section focuses in on the key events of the revolution, linking them up to practically all of the chronological engravings of J Prieur. The true value of this book really is in the 60-odd historical tableaus drawn by Prieur and the marrying of the somewhat confusing chronological events of the French revolution to these tableaus. The author gives a thorough description of each historical tableau within the text, not in the captions, and this is what makes the book so readable. With hindsight, Prieur apparently recorded quite faithfully all the key events iand this contemporary visual evidence is the closest that we have to unbiased visual documentation of the period. The third section gives a very comprehensive essay on Roberspierre and the various factions within the French republic. This is then followed by a section on J.L. David and his accomplishments. Most readers will probably be familiar with David's biography and there are no surprises here. A concluding section brings all the threads together.
The two artists selected and contrasted here are J.L. David and J. Prieur, both Jacobin members and the contrasts in their abilities and fortunes could not have been more dramatic. Both artists worked for the revolution and recorded them, David in a painterly academic style which created the classical movement in art whilst Prieur was an unremarkable jobber, whose 60-odd historical engravings are now housed in the present Carnavalet museum, Paris, and has been rescued from relative obscurity by Roberts in this enlightening and entertaining book. While David survived the revolution, Prieur was beheaded shortly after completing his last scene.
I came away with a good understanding of the French revolution due to the complete empathy that Roberts gives to the period.
The only complaint that I have is that the book is physically quite small and hence, the reproduced engravings are small, too, hence 4 stars.
Highly recommended even for the layperson.

2001-10-30 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

---

Wow!
As a student of both art and art history, I found Dr. Robert's book intoxicating. From beginning to end this impecccably researched book provides the facts in a stunning and original way. There is no better book telling the story Of the Revolution and the effect it had on art.

2000-05-09 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

---

Louis David, Son École Et Son Temps, Souvenirs (French Edition)

Description

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

---

La Peinture Francaise Au XIX Siecle: Les Chefs D'ecole: Louis David, Gros, Gericault, Decamps, Ingres, Eugene Delacroix (French Edition)

Description

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

---

Jacques-Louis David: New Perspectives

Description

Provides a further step in the direction of nuanced thinking about Jacques-Louis David's art and brings to light evidence concerning the artist, his legacy, and the culture which he lived and worked. This book presents historical, archival, and interpretive material from diverse methodological vantage points.

---