Two Studies of the Head of a Young Man Crowned with a Laurel Wreath

1775/1780

Jacques-Louis David

Associated Names
Jacques-Louis David

Artist, French, 1748 - 1825

The image shows a drawing of two side profile busts of a person with long wavy hair. Both profiles are depicted from the shoulder up. The left profile is slightly turned towards the viewer, while the right one is facing away. Both profiles have detailed facial structures with strong noses and chins. They wear a laurel wreath tied at the back, intricately sketched into their hair. The clothing is minimally indicated as a robe or draped garment. In the background, the paper is plain, emphasizing the detailed figures. The drawing includes ink notes and a signature at the bottom, with a date marked as 1813.

Media Options

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Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Étienne-Jean Delécluze [1781-1863]; Albert Vaudoyer [1874-1947], according to Baschet 1942. (Galerie Jean-François and Philippe Heim, Paris, by 1990); (anonymous sale, Sotheby's, Monaco, 5 December 1992, no. 146, unsold); (anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 12 January 1994, no. 212); William B. Jordan and Robert Dean Brownlee, Dallas, TX; bequest to NGA, 2019.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1990

  • Peintures, aquarelles, dessins, 1755-1891: exposition printemps 1990. Jean-François and Philippe Heim, Paris, 1990, pp. 8-9 (reprod.).

2014

  • Mind's Eye: Masterworks on Paper from David to Cézanne. Dallas Museum of Art, 2014, no. 3 (color)(entry by Louis-Antoine Prat).

2022

  • Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2022, no. 12.

Bibliography

1855

  • Delécluze, Etienne-Jean. Louis David, son école et son temps. Paris, 1855: 112.

1899

  • Duguet, Roger. Les contemporains. Louis David. Paris, 1899: 4.

1925

  • Saunier, Charles. "Les dessins de David," L'Art vivant no. 24, 15 December 1925: p. 13.

1929

  • Saunier, Charles. "Le dessin de Louis David," Le dessin, no. 15, September 1929: 410.

1942

  • Baschet, Robert. E. J. Delécluze, témoin de son temps. Paris, 1942: 31, reprod. opp. p. 272.

1954

  • Hautecoeur, Louis. Louis David. Paris, 1954: 43.

1973

  • Wildenstein, Daniel, and Guy Wildenstein. Documents complémentaires au catalogue de l'euvre de Louis David. Paris, 1973: 175-176, no. 1 515.

1975

  • Howard, Seymour. A Classical Frieze by Jacques Louis David. Sacramento, 1975: 16.

1979

  • Bordes, Philippe. "Dessins perdus de David, dont un pour "la Mort de Socrate," lithographiés par Debret," Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art français, Année 1979. Paris, 1981: 183-184, note 23.

1980

  • Schnapper, Antoine. David témoin de son temps. Fribourg, 1980: 45-46.

1989

  • Sérullaz, Arlette. "Le séjour à Rome," in Jacques-Louis David, 1748-1825, exh. cat. Paris, Musée du Louvre (1989): 68-69, fig. 35.

  • Néret, Gilles. David: La terreur et la vertu. Paris, 1989: 23.

1994

  • Montagu, Jennifer. The Expression of the Passions: The Origin and Influence of Charles Le Brun's "Conférence sur l'expression générale et particulière. New Haven, 1994: 97-98, fig. 129.

2000

  • Rosenberg, Pierre. From Drawing to Painting: Poussin, Watteau, Fragonard, David, and Ingres. Princeton, 2000: 62, fig. 76.

2002

  • Rosenberg, Pierre, and Louis-Antoine Prat. Jacques-Louis David, 1748-1825: Catalogue raisonné des dessins. 2 vols. Milan, 2002, no. 13.

2011

  • Prat, Louis-Antoine. Le dessin français au XIXe siècle. Paris, 2011: 28, fig. 39.

Inscriptions

on attached sheet in brown ink, by the hand of David's student and biographer: Ce croquis fait à Rome par L. David, m'a été donné par lui en / 1813. [large space] E. J. Delécluze [sheet was separated from drawing in 2021, and is stored in a separate folder]


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