The Departure of Marcus Attilius Regulus for Carthage
Jacques Louis David (French, 1748-1825)
1785/86
- Medium
- Pen and black ink and brush and black ink wash and opaque white watercolor with black chalk and touches of brown watercolor on blue laid paper
- Classification
- Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions
- Sight: 31 × 40.9 cm (12 1/4 × 16 1/8 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
In David’s powerful study, the defeated Roman general Marcus Atilius Regulus, refusing the entreaties of his wife, insists on being sent back to Carthage to be executed. The relief-like drawing, seemingly carved from stone, boldly combines a sober setting and technique (black ink, white wash) with extreme theatricality, like a scene performed onstage.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
