Portrait of Jeanbon Saint-André
Jacques Louis David (French, 1748-1825)
1795
- Medium
- Pen and black ink and brush and black ink with yellow ocher watercolor over graphite, on cream laid paper
- Classification
- Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions
- 18.3 × 18.3 cm (7 1/4 × 7 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Helen Regenstein Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This penetrating character study of the artist’s friend and fellow French revolutionary, Jeanbon Saint-André (1749–1813), made while both were in prison, brilliantly captures the sitter’s political and moral beliefs through his intense and unflinching stare, defiantly crossed arms, and sober black frock coat and hat. At the same time, it recalls profile portraits on ancient coins, thus equating Saint-André and the revolution with the lofty ideals of the Roman republic. David’s handwritten inscription on the drawing reads: “A gift of friendship. Solace of affection. David made this in confinement in the third year of the French Revolution on July 28, 1795.”
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
