Because Jacques-Louis David's teaching in his studio was based on the study of antiquity - "that is still the greatest school for modern painters" - and on imitation of the old masters - "in the genius of their drawing, the expression of their figures and the gracefulness of their forms" - it soon became synonymous with a cold, static academicism. In our time such an opinion still prevails, and his pupils, supposedly locked in a rigid ossified indoctrination, are denied the slightest spirit of innovation. The drawings by Jean-Germain Drouais, Philippe-Auguste Hennequin, Jean-Baptiste Wicar or the Belgian Francois-Joseph Navez, usually considered David's most orthodox disciples, offer clear proof that these artists, with their personal vision of antiquity, succeeded in creating new forms. As for Francois Gerard, Anne-Louis Girodet and Jean-Antoine Gros, while they, too, continued to privilege the line that defines contours yet exalts them as well, they contributed to an adventure that led to the explosion of David's conception and harboured premonitions of the major innovative trends of the nineteenth century.
- ISBN10 8874392532
- ISBN13 9788874392537
- Publish Date 1 January 2005
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 6 June 2012
- Publish Country IT
- Imprint Five Continents Editions
- Format Paperback
- Pages 96
- Language English