Customer Reviews

David

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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.

Jacques-Louis David falls in and out of favor among critics and artists alike. But few can deny the impact that this rather frail man had on the times in which he lived. His life, as well outlined by Simon Lee, was full of major and minor tragedies: his failure to gain the prestigious Prix de Rome made him decide to starve himself to death until he finally was awarded the coveted prize in 1774, he was imprisoned for his allegiance to the French Revolution, he was physically challenged by a distorted face that affected his speech, etc. He was absorbed by the magnificence of the manner in which the Italian masters depicted man and he elected to move into this 'neoclassicism' arena to raise the public opinion of the common man at odds with the reigning royalty, thus being one of the early champions of the Revolutionary movement in France - and subsequently across the globe. His political convictions created an alliance with some tragic figures such as Jean Paul Marat and Robespierre and even Napoleon Bonaparte, each of these figure he portrayed in multiple famous paintings.

PHAIDON traditionally provides small scale but well produced biographies of artists and this is no exception. The generous sampling of David's paintings is richly saturated with color and the annotations provided by Simon are correct and well researched. This may not be the definitive volume on this important artist, but it is a fine introduction to a tragic hero whose dramatic changes in both art and political history are worthy of study. Grady Harp, March 11

220 x 160 mm, 352 pp, 205 illustrations: small, but of good quality. Brilliant text: lots of information and easy to read.

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.

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.

Well, why not?
I have to admit that this book on David looks good. However, whilst flipping thru the book, I came across the end section and there was this picture of the author in full frontal nudity, in a heroic pose. I don't see the link between a photo of a naked man and David's biography.
I can only attribute this to the fact that the author is indulging in narcissistic display.