Jacques-Louis David

Private Collection, Switzerland,
their sale, London, Christie's, 6 December 1972, lot 165,
where purchased by Stella;
sale, London, Christie's, 5 July 1988, lot 141,
where acquired by the present owner

New York, Wildenstein, The Arts of France from François I^er to Napoléon I^er:  A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York, 2005-2006, no. 149, reproduced

Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825, exhib. cat., Paris, Musée du Louvre, and Musée National du Château de Versailles, 1989-1990, p. 347, under no. 152;
A. Sérullaz, Dessins de Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825, Paris 1991, p. 106, under no. 203;
P. Rosenberg and L-A. Prat, Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825: catalogue raisonné des dessins, Milan 2002, vol. I, p. 181, no. 165, also cited, vol. II, p. 994, under no. 1524, reproduced vol. I, p. 181

Window mounted. There are a number of light brown stains and ink splashes throughout the sheet. Faint squaring (for transfer) visible on recto. Medium remains incredibly fresh and overall image powerful and strong. Sold in carved and gilded frame.
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This major study for one of David's iconic paintings of the Revolutionary period, The Intervention of the Sabine Women (Paris, Musée du Louvre¹; fig. 1), is a definitive example of the artist's draftsmanship during these crucial years, and is also one of the most important drawings by David to come on the market in recent times.

In 1794, following the downfall of Robespierre, David was imprisoned for the part he played in The Terror, and it was during his incarceration that the thought of portraying a scene of The Intervention of the Sabine Women first occurred to him.  Anxious to heal the rifts created over the preceding four years, the subject allowed David to demonstrate that he was now a man of peace and an advocate of reconciliation, attuned to the new spirit of the age.

David proudly exhibited the finished painting in 1799, at an exhibition held in his studio at the Louvre, and the present drawing is one of the major surviving studies for this highly important work.  Identified by Rosenberg and Prat as a preparatory study for the group of soldiers placed behind Tatius, on the left side of the painting, our drawing perfectly encapsulates the moment at which David actively began to pursue a more Grecian style, having announced his intention “to paint pure Greekness”.  Indeed, the frieze-like composition, with its nudity and idealisation of the human form, was undoubtedly influenced by Greek antiquity as well as the readily available writings of the celebrated 18^th century archaeologist and ancient historian Johann Winckelmann.

In this monumental drawing David depicts a Sabine soldier, seen from behind, exhorting his comrades to remain calm as it becomes apparent that the battle they were preparing to fight against the Romans has been abandoned.  A similar, though smaller study of a group of warriors, executed purely in black chalk, is in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lyon.²  

Also linking this drawing inextricably with David’s painting are the two previously unrecorded drapery studies on the verso, which are preparatory for the sections of drapery covering Tatius’ left shoulder, and running down his side and then billowing out to his left.  Only four other drawings are known in which David has studied draperies for this composition in such a detailed way; three of them are now housed in the Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai³ and the fourth in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow.⁴

1. Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. 3691

2. Rosenberg and Prat, op. cit., pp. 178-179, no. 163, reproduced

3. Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse, inv. nos. 460-462

4. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, inv. no. 4462