Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David
Self-Portrait, 1794 (Musée du Louvre)
33rd President of the National Convention
In office 5 January 1794 – 20 January 1794
Preceded by	Georges Auguste Couthon
Succeeded by	Marc Guillaume Alexis Vadier
Personal details
Born	(1748-08-30)30 August 1748 Paris, Kingdom of France
Died	29 December 1825(1825-12-29) (aged 77) Brussels, United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Political party	The Mountain
Spouses	Marguerite Charlotte Pécoul ​ ​ (m. 1782; div. 1793)​ ​ ​ (m. 1796)​
Alma mater	Collège des Quatre-Nations, University of Paris
Known for	Oath of the Horatii (1784) The Death of Marat (1793)
Awards	Prix de Rome Commander of the Legion of Honour
Movement	Neoclassicism
Signature

Jacques-Louis David (French: [ʒaklwi david]; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in taste away from Rococo frivolity toward classical austerity, severity, and heightened feeling,^[1] which harmonized with the moral climate of the final years of the Ancien Régime.

David later became an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794), and was effectively a dictator of the arts under the French Republic. Imprisoned after Robespierre's fall from power, he aligned himself with yet another political regime upon his release: that of Napoleon, the First Consul of France. At this time he developed his Empire style, notable for its use of warm Venetian colours. After Napoleon's fall from Imperial power and the Bourbon revival, David exiled himself to Brussels, then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, where he remained until his death. David had many pupils, making him the strongest influence in French art of the early 19th century, especially academic Salon painting.