David

by Simon Lee and Simon Lee

Book Overview

A participant in and chronicler of the French Revolution, Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) also witnessed the rise of Napoleon, painting a series of works glorifying his reign. Simon Lee's book is the first to deal with all aspects of David's career and character and to trace his changing relationships with patrons. This is a fresh analysis with an abundance of new insight.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0714838047
• ISBN13: 9780714838045
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Phaidon Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Exactly what you're looking for.

This is the perfect book for anyone interested in the work of David. His career is described is step by step detail with quality reproductions of his paintings to accompany the text. An amazing talent who lived during the best and worst of times.

the last reviewer is a jerk off

I just finished reading this book and it is great. The words flow as well as the the color pictures. Every painting Mr. Lee writes about is also presented. One couldn't ask for more. The last person who wrote the moronic review doesn't know what he is talking about. The naked person in the book he is refering to is a modern artist who posed for a picture to make a work of art in minutes instead of the way of David, that is the way of skill. In short the picture of the naked guy is just some lazy slob that doesn't reflect on the book whatsoever. Well I question why Mr. Lee would included it, but in my opinion that lapse is the only one in the book.

David the Revolutionary

I agree with other reviewers that David is usually glossed over in textbooks, and this is a shame, because not only was David the most important and influential French artist at the end of the eighteenth century, he was also a politician active in the French Revolution, and I think we should be very careful about underestimating the impact of his images on the public at that time. David, in constrast to his Rococo predecessors, was very much a public artist, and his paintings were effective propaganda that tried to cement the new code of morals that surged in on the tide of the Revolution. This is a phenominally important fact that for some reason only gets slipshod treatment in more general books.Another nice thing about this book that no other reviewers have mentioned is the section at the end that deals with David's legacy. These sections are in all the books in the Phaidon Art & Ideas series and I think they're especially eye-opening. Lee points out how opinions of David's work have continually been changing since his death. For example, he discusses how an Italian artist (whom the idiot reviewer from Singapore somehow mistook for the "narcissistic author" [?!?] and decided to pass off the rest of the book as worthless because of it) posed as a character from "The Intervention of the Sabine Women" to illustrate David's ideas of masculinity and start some sort of dialogue about how they apply (or do not apply) to the modern world.Highly readable prose, great art history with appropriate general history breathed back into it--as it should be.

Excellent Profile of the Life, Times & Works of David

I was thoroughly impressed with this profile of Jacques-Louis David. It was given to me as a gift and I was not sure of quite what to expect. From my experience, David is often given little more than a few pages (or even a few brief paragraphs) in art textbooks and thus if a person wants to know more, it is necessary to do a bit of digging. From the introduction, my fear was dispelled and I knew I was in for a treat. The author discusses David's personal life, his political ideas and involvement, the relevant historical details, and David's works. The illustrations are wonderful and aside from David's paintings and sketches, the works of artists like Boucher, Vien, Caravaggio, Poussin, Gros and Ingres are included. Lee generally gives a fair amount of analysis on each of David's works. Most students will recognize The Oath of the Horatii, The Death of Socrates, and Marat Breathing his Last but will also see and learn about The Coronation, The Distribution of the Eagle Standards, Brutus, Intervention of the Sabine Women, Belisarius Receiving Alms and Mars Disarmed By Venus, to name a few. Regarding the politics of the French Revolution, Lee discusses David's role, his allies, his enemies, and his skillful use of paintings as propaganda. We see David shift from painter to the monarchy to painter for the Revolution to painter for Napoleon to painter for himself, warts and all. One should not assume that Lee candy-coats the issues in this book. He neither presents David as a flawless genius nor spoils the book with pretentious blather. The text is informative and sophisticated without being cumbersome or haughty. Other great features of the book include a convenient glossary, short biographies on pertinent figures, a map and a timeline. Whether you are an expert art historian or a student, you will find this book to be a great addition.