Art Institute of Chicago
Portrait of Jeanbon Saint-André
Jacques-Louis DavidLinkedCulture matchlcp-abacad3af207
- Date
- 1795
- Medium
- Pen and black ink and brush and black ink with yellow ocher watercolor over graphite, on cream laid paper
- Culture
- France
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 44262
This penetrating character study of the artist’s friend and fellow French revolutionary, Jeanbon Saint-André (1749–1813), made while both were in prison, brilliantly captures the sitter’s political and moral beliefs through his intense and unflinching stare, defiantly crossed arms, and sober black frock coat and hat. At the same time, it recalls profile portraits on ancient coins, thus equating Saint-André and the revolution with the lofty ideals of the Roman republic. David’s handwritten inscription on the drawing reads: “A gift of friendship. Solace of affection. David made this in confinement in the third year of the French Revolution on July 28, 1795.”
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Helen Regenstein Collection
- Provenance
- The artist to Jean-Bon Saint-André (died 1813), Montauban [inscription]. Possibly, Thuet de Caussade [Rosenberg and Prat 2002]. Marquis de Biron (1860-1939); sold, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 9-11, 1914, de Biron sale, lot 12 to Oscar Stettiner for 10,000 fancs [Rosenberg and Prat 2002]. Gabriel Cognacq (1880-1951), Paris, by 1939 [Paris 1939]; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 10, 1952, Cognacq sale, lot 49. Sacha Guitry, Paris (1885-1957), by 1954 [Rosenberg and Prat 2002]; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 24, 1972, lot 22 to Henri Baderou (1910-1991). Sold by Jacques Seligmann and Company, New York, to the Art Institute, 1973.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033973
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