Jacques-Louis David
Studies of a man
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
Jacques-Louis David
Paris 1748 - 1825 Bruxelles
Studies of a man
Recto : Study of a standing man
Verso : Study of a man
Black chalk on paper (recto and verso); on the recto, bears the initials of David's son lower right and a number lower left
87 x 51 mm
Collection of Baron Joseph Vitta;
Anonymous sale, Artcurial, Paris, 24 March 2010, lot 51 (titled Silhouette présumée de Bonaparte et Etude d'homme en pied);
Where acquired by the present owner.
P. Rosenberg and L.-A. Prat, De David à Delacroix. Du tableau au dessin, Onzièmes rencontres internationales du Salon du Dessin, actes du colloque (30-31 March 2016), Paris 2017, pp. 52 and 171, fig. 14 and 15.
On the recto, the man walking towards the right could be Napoleon. It does not seem to be preparatory for any known painting. It is probably one of David’s many sketches of his favourite subjects, lacking any particular objective.
As for the verso, might it be a first idea, very freely drawn and rapid, for a portrait of Napoleon as First Consul? The pose – although reversed – is reminiscent of Bonaparte in the consular portraits by Ingres (Musée de Liège) and Gros (Musée de la Légion d’Honneur, Paris).