Jacques-Louis David
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
At the turbulent crossroads of art and revolution stands Jacques-Louis David, the most celebrated painter of the French Neoclassical movement, whose canvases burned with moral conviction, political allegiance, and an almost terrifying grandeur. Anita Brookner's authoritative study chronicles the life and work of this towering figure — from his early triumphs in Rome and Paris, through his fervent embrace of the French Revolution and his intimate bond with Napoleon Bonaparte, to his final years of exile in Brussels — illuminating how a single artist could shape the visual identity of an entire era. Brookner, herself a distinguished art historian and novelist, brings a rare dual sensibility to this work, arguing persuasively that David's genius lay not merely in technical mastery but in his extraordinary capacity to transform political ideology into timeless aesthetic statement. Her prose is precise, elegant, and deeply learned, situating David's iconic works — The Oath of the Horatii, The Death of Marat, and Coronation of Napoleon — within the seismic social upheavals that produced them. For anyone captivated by the intersection of art, power, and history, this remains an indispensable and revelatory portrait of a man who painted the world as he wished it to be.
Author: Anita Brookner
Format: Hardback
Genre: History of arts
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
At the turbulent crossroads of art and revolution stands Jacques-Louis David, the most celebrated painter of the French Neoclassical movement, whose canvases burned with moral conviction, political allegiance, and an almost terrifying grandeur. Anita Brookner's authoritative study chronicles the life and work of this towering figure — from his early triumphs in Rome and Paris, through his fervent embrace of the French Revolution and his intimate bond with Napoleon Bonaparte, to his final years of exile in Brussels — illuminating how a single artist could shape the visual identity of an entire era. Brookner, herself a distinguished art historian and novelist, brings a rare dual sensibility to this work, arguing persuasively that David's genius lay not merely in technical mastery but in his extraordinary capacity to transform political ideology into timeless aesthetic statement. Her prose is precise, elegant, and deeply learned, situating David's iconic works — The Oath of the Horatii, The Death of Marat, and Coronation of Napoleon — within the seismic social upheavals that produced them. For anyone captivated by the intersection of art, power, and history, this remains an indispensable and revelatory portrait of a man who painted the world as he wished it to be.