Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman

Jacques Louis David, The Oath of the Tennis Court, 1791, Pen and brown and black ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white, over black chalk, with two irregularly shaped fragments of paper affixed to the sheet, Musée du Louvre, Paris, on deposit at the Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon (INV. DESS 736 / MV 8409 / MV RF 1914).

Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman is the first exhibition devoted to works on paper by the celebrated French artist who navigated vast artistic and political divides throughout his life—from his birth in Paris in 1748 to his death in exile in Brussels in 1825. His iconic works captured the aspirations and suffering of a nation, while addressing timeless themes that continue to resonate today.

Through the lens of his preparatory studies, the exhibition looks beyond his public successes to chart the moments of inspiration and the progress of ideas. Visitors will follow the artist’s process as he gave form to the neoclassical style and created major canvases that shaped the public’s perceptions of historical events in the years before, during, and after the French Revolution.

Organized chronologically, it features more than eighty drawings and oil sketches—including rarely loaned or newly discovered works—drawn from the collections of The Met and dozens of institutional and private lenders.