Madame David

1813

Jacques-Louis David

Painter, French, 1748 - 1825

Shown from the lap up, a woman with peachy skin, wearing a white silk dress and feathered headpiece, sits facing and looking at us in a harvest-yellow, upholstered chair in this vertical portrait painting. She has blue-gray eyes and a rounded, slightly pink nose. Her thin lips are closed and pulled back with shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth. Chestnut-brown ringlets frame her face and fall to her shoulders under a white hat or headband covered with curling, billowing white feathers. Light reflecting off the cloth of her high-waisted dress suggests it is silk or satin. It has a lace-lined square neckline and puffed short sleeves. She crosses her arms at the wrist and her hands rest in her lap, holding opposite forearms. A red shawl with silver and blue trim wraps over her left arm, on our right, and bunches up behind her against the yellow chair. The artist signed and dated the work in yellow paint against the dark background behind the woman: “L. David 1813.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 72.9 x 59.4 cm (28 11/16 x 23 3/8 in.)
    framed: 93.6 x 79.7 x 9.5 cm (36 7/8 x 31 3/8 x 3 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.9.14

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Bequeathed in 1826 by the sitter, Marguerite-Charlotte David, née Pécoul [1764-1826],[1] to her daughter, Baronne Claude-Marie Meunier, née Laure-Emilie-Félicité David [1786-1863], Calais;[2] her daughter-in-law, Baronne Jules Meunier, née Pauline Derode [1824-1903], Calais; the artist's great-granddaughter, Mme. Marius Bianchi, née Mathilde Jeanin, by 1913;[3] her daughter, Caroline-Pauline-Thérèse, Comtesse Joachim Murat [1870-1940], by 1930;[4] her sister, Renée, vicomtesse de Fleury [1869-1948]; (Pierre Cailleux, Paris), 1948-1953.[5] Jointly owned from 1953 by (Otto Wertheimer [Galerie les Tourettes], Paris) and (M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York);[6] sold 1954 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[7] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] In a chronological list of his works which David drew up in about 1815 ("Liste B"), Madame David figures in next-to-last place as "Le portrait de Me David mon épouse" (Schnapper, Antoine, et al., Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825, exh. cat. Louvre and Versailles, Paris, 1989: 20).
[2] Mme David's last will, dated 6 March 1826 (Paris, Archives Nationales, Minutier Central, CVIII, 1013; Wildenstein, Daniel, and Guy Wildenstein, Documents complémentaires au catalogue de l'oeuvre de Louis David, Paris, 1973: 239, no. 2045), and the posthumous inventory of her possessions, dated 27 June 1826 (CVIII, 1014; Wildenstein and Wildenstein 1973: 247, no. 2071; Schnapper et al. 1989: 636), both mention this portrait and indicate that it had been bequeathed to Baronne Emilie Meunier, her daughter.
[3] David et ses elèves, Petit Palais, Paris, 1913: no. 56.
[4] Richard Cantinelli, Jacques-Louis David, Paris, 1930: 113, no. 132.
[5] The painting was lent by Cailleux to the 1952-1953 exhibition Meisterwerke de französichen Malerei von Poussin bis Ingres, shown at the Kunsthalle, Hamberg, and the Alter Pinakothek, Munich.
[6] M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Stock book no. 10, p. 115, no. A5477, and Sales book no. 17, both as Portrait of Mme David (copies in NGA curatorial files).
[7] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1314.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1846

  • Exposition au profit de l'Association des Artistes, Peintres, et Sculpteurs, Bazar Bonne Nouvelle, Paris, 1846, no. 11

1913

  • David et ses elèves, Petit Palais, Paris, 1913, no. 56, repro.

1914

  • Exposition d'art français du XIX siècle, Musée Royal de Copenhague, Copenhagen, 1914, no. 65

1948

  • David. Exposition en honneur du deuxième centenaire de sa naissance, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1948, no. 68

  • David. Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, The Arts Council of Great Britain, Tate Gallery, London, and City Art Gallery, Manchester, 1948-1949, no. 27, repro.

1949

  • Exposition des magiciens de la peinture, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1949, no. 13

1950

  • Cent portraits de femmes, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1950, no. 25c, repro.

1952

  • Peintres de portraits, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1952, no. 16

  • Meisterwerke de französichen Malerie von Poussin bis Ingres, Kunsthalle, Hamburg and Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 1952, no. 14, repro.

1989

  • Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1989-1990, no. 213, repro.

2005

  • Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 2005, no. 23, repro., as Portrait of Marguerite-Charlotte David, née Pécoul.

Bibliography

1824

  • Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. J.-L. David. Paris, 1824: 21.

1826

  • Mahul, A. Annuaire necrologique, ou complement annuel et continuation de toutes les biographies ou dictionnnaires historiques....Année 1825. Paris, 1826: 141.

  • Th. A. Vie de David, Premier Peintre de Napoléon. Brussels, 1826: 242 (Paris edition, 1826: 166).

1827

  • Coupin, P.A. "Essai sur J.-L. David, peintre d'histoire." Revue encyclopédique. 61 vols. Paris, 1819-1835: 31(1926):56.

1846

  • Thoré, Theophile. Le Salon de 1846. Paris, 1846: 12.

1855

  • Delécluze, Etienne-Jean. Louis David, son école et son temps. Paris, 1855: 354.

1864

  • Seigner, Jean du. "Appendice à la notice de P. Chaussard sur L. David." Revue universelle des arts XVIII (1864): 367.

1880

  • David, Jules. Le peintre Louis David, 1748-1825. Paris, 1880: 2320-231, 487, 648.

1904

  • Saunier, Charles. Louis David. Biographie critique. Paris, 1904: 107.

1913

  • Pauli, Gustav. "David im Petit Palais." Kunst und Kunstler XI: 541-550.

  • Rosenthal, Leon. "L'Exposition de David et de ses élèves au Petit Palais." Revue de l'Art Ancien et Moderne XXXIII (1913): 342.

1930

  • Cantinelli, Richard. Jacques-Louis David. Paris and Brussels, 1930: 81, 113, no. 132, no. 75, repro.

1940

  • Holma, Klaus. David, son évolution et son style. Paris, 1940: 90, 129, no. 138.

1943

  • Maret, Jacques. Louis David. Monaco, 1943: pl. 85.

  • Brest, Jorge Romero. Jacques-Louis David. Buenos Aires, 1943: 23.

1948

  • Florisoone, Michel. David. Exposition en l'honneur du deuxième centenaire de sa naissance. Exh. cat. Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, 1948: no. M.O. 68.

  • Cooper, Douglas. "Jacques-Louis David: A Bi-Centenary Exhibition."The Burlington Magazine 90: 278, repro. frontispiece.

1954

  • Hautecoeur, Louis. Louis David. Paris, 1954: 230.

1956

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 68, no. 23, repro.

  • Einstein, Lewis."Looking at French Eighteenth Century Pictures in Washington." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 6th ser., 47. no. 1048-1049 (May-June 1956): 245, 250, repro.

1957

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 97.

1959

  • Wildenstein, Georges. "Les Davidiens à Paris sous la Restauration." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6e période, 53 (April 1959): 242-245, repro.

1963

  • Cailleux 1912-1962. Album du jubilé de la Galerie Cailleux. Paris, 1963: unpaginated, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 322, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 38.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:400, color repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 31, repro.

1973

  • Wildenstein, Daniel, and Guy Wildenstein. Documents complémentaires au catalogue de l'oeuvre de Louis David. Paris, 1973: no. 2071.

  • Verbraeken, René. Jacques-Louis David jugé par ses contemporains et par la posterité. Paris, 1973: 23, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 94, repro.

  • Burney, Fanny. Joyce Hemlow, ed. The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay). 6 vols. Oxford, 1975: 623-626.

1977

  • Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 358-359, fig. 330.

1980

  • Brookner, Anita. Jacques-Louis David. London, 1980: 169-170, repro.

  • Schnapper, Antoine. David témoin de son temps. Fribourg, 1980: 265, repro. (English translation, David, New York, 1980: 265, repro.).

1983

  • Gassier, Pierre. Léopold Robert. Neuchâtel, 1983: 15 (repro. of Robert's engraving), 20.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 418, no. 594, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 116, repro.

  • de Nanteuil, Luc. Jacques-Louis David. New York, 1985: 150, repro.

1989

  • Lévecque, Jean-Jacques. La vie et l'oeuvre de Jacques-Louis David. Courbevoie-Paris, 1989: 210, repro.

  • Schnapper, Antoine, et al. Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825. Exh. cat. Louvre and Versailles. Paris, 1989: 484, no. 213, repro.

  • Roberts, Warren. Jacques-Louis David, Revolutionary Artst. Chapel Hill, 1989: 171, repro.

1998

  • Ternois, Daniel. Ingres: Monsieur Bertin. Paris, 1998: 38-39, repro.

  • Monneret, Sophie. David et le Neoclassicisme. Terrail, 1998: 140-146, repro. 145.

2000

  • Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 208-213, color repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 352, no. 283, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: L. David. 1813.

Wikidata ID

Q15615000

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