The Prisoner
c. 1816–22
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)
Drawings
The Prisoner, c. 1816–22. Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825). Black chalk on cream laid paper; sheet: 13.1 x 19.6 cm (5 3/16 x 7 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1973.36 This drawing belongs to a series of enigmatic sheets that the French artist Jacques-Louis David created while living as an exile in Brussels from 1816 until his death in 1825. Many of these untitled works present close-up views of expressive heads and were given by the artist to his friends. This image of a turbaned man next to a hanging chain and oil lamp loosely references David's painting The Intercession of Saint Roch (1780) from much earlier in his career. Scholars have suggested that Jacques-Louis David might have intended this drawing as a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, who the artist supported. The former leader died a prisoner on the island of Saint Helena in 1821.
- Maker/Artist
- David, Jacques-Louis
- Classification
- Drawing
- Formatted Medium
- black chalk on cream laid paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 13.1 x 19.6 cm (5 3/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: inscribed, at upper left, in black chalk: L. David, Brux.; inscribed, on an old support, now removed: 1 des. de L. David.
- Departments
- Drawings
- Accession Number
- 1973.36
- Credit Line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Exhibitions
- Year in Review: 1973, The Lessons of the Academy, Treasures on Paper, Jacques-Louis David, Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure, French Drawings from the Collection, Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile, Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman, Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, <em>Old Master Drawings Presented by Adolphe Stein and Lorna Lowe. </em>H. Terry-Engell Gallery, London (July 3 - 15, 1972).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 101B Prints & Drawings
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