Jacques-Louis David

Private Collection, United Kingdom

Hinge mounted in three places to a piece of card. There is a small, light brown stain to the centre left of the sheet and some very minor evidence of surface dirt to the four edges. Otherwise in very good condition, with the medium fresh and vibrant throughout.
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This highly energetic study perfectly encapsulates the way in which David used his time in Rome, from 1775-80, to absorb as many as possible of the artistic influences available to him.  In the present work he has copied a grisaille portraying Alexander ordering the books of Homer to be preserved,¹ located below Raphael’s Parnassus in the Stanza della Segnatura and nowadays generally thought to have been painted by a member of Raphael’s studio.
A larger, fractionally more complete version of the present work was sold at Christie’s, New York, 26 January 2012, lot 122 ($43,750).

1. G.B. Pezzini et al., Raphael Invenit, Rome 1985, p. 37, reproduced p. 284