Jacques-Louis David

Born into the family of a prosperous Parisian dealer in iron; was raised by two uncles, who took care of him after the death of father (1757); educated at a boarding school and the Collège des Quatre Nations in Paris; chose to become an artist and studied under Joseph-Marie Vien; entered the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (1766-1774); lived in Italy (1775-1780), where drew from antique models; was made an associate member of the Académie Royale (1781) for his work "Belisarius Asking Alms", and full member (1783) for "Andromache Mourning Hector"; fulfilled the governmental commission "Oath of the Horatii" (1784), a masterpiece of Neoclassicism; painted "The Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons" (1789) for King Louis XVI; enthusiastically greeted the Revolution; member of the Jacobin Club; elected (17 Sep 1792) to the Convention nationale (National Convention) (1792-1795) as a deputy for the département of Paris; took seat with the Montagnards; voted for the death sentence at the trial of Louis XVI; president of the Jacobin Club (16 Jun 1793 - 12 Jul 1793); served as a member of the Comité de sûreté générale (Committee of General Security) (14 Sep 1793 - 31 Jul 1794), President of the National Convention (5 Jan 1794 - 20 Jan 1794); accomplished a series of paintings reflecting the history of the Revolution ("Oath of the Tennis Court", "Death of Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau", "The Dead Marat"); greatly influenced the development of art in revolutionary France; emphatically supported Maximilien Robespierre during the coup of 9 Thermidor, Year II (27 Jul 1794); was denounced and imprisoned; released (27 Dec 1794) and re-admitted to the National Convention (28 Dec 1794); as ardent adherent of the Montagnards, was arrested after the insurrection of 1 Prairial, Year III (20 May 1795); amnestied (26 Oct 1795); abandoned politics and flourished as artist during the Consulate and First Empire; created many paintings of Napoléon I ("Coronation", "Napoleon Distributing the Eagles", "Napoleon in His Study"); was created member (18 Dec 1803) and officer (22 Oct 1808) of the Légion d'honneur, chevalier de l'Empire (10 Sep 1808); proscribed as regicide (1816) and fled to Brussels. Biography source:[4][5][6][7][8]