704 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



[Feb. 



fained that ideal perfection, bordering upon 

 the stiffness of statuary, which he acquired 

 Rt a later period. In his next picture, 

 Belisarius, the composition is simple and 

 grand, the design chaste, the expression 

 true, the colouring sedate — the entire cha- 

 racter of the production bearing a great re- 

 semblance to Poussin, with more correct- 

 ness and arrangement than that artist 

 usually displays. In tracing liis course 

 fi-om hia Belisarius to his Rape of the 

 Sabines, the influence of the Italian school 

 will be seen gradually to diminish, and the 

 taste for ancient design to become stronger, 

 so as at last to settle into academic correct- 

 ness. In bis Horatii, wliich may perhaps 

 be regarded as the production that marks 

 the zenith of his talents, there is the same 

 grandeur, the same severity of composition 

 and expression, the same sobriety in the 

 execution ; but, without yet ceasing to be 

 natural, the disposition of the subject is seen 

 to incline towards the sterility of bus-relief. 

 In the Rape of the Sabines, one amongst 

 the most admired and most deser\'ing of 

 admiration of M. David's pictures, it is seen 

 that his dra«-ing has become altogether 

 academic, and the attitudes betray a too 

 great fondness for the display of beautiful 

 forms. His Socrates is grandly conceived ; 

 his Brutus is full of beautiful details ; his 

 Thermopylae, and the many other works 

 that have signalized his pencil, are marked 

 ■with all the touches of a great master; but, 

 by those who love tlie simple and the true, 

 and are fearful of style when it becomes sys- 

 tematic, the first works of RI. David will be 

 esteemed as his master-pieces. 



David was a great favourite of Buona- 

 parte's. The conqueror of Austerlitz is 

 said to have advanced two steps towards 

 the artist in his painting-room, and, taking 

 oflF his hat, to have exclaimed " Sir, I salute 

 you!" Under the protection of his great 

 friend, David was allowed, as a special mark 

 of distinction, to occupy the corner wing of 

 the old palace, from which every man of 

 genius and science entitled to reside there 

 had been removed. Buonaparte always 

 consulted him in tlie arrangement of his 

 paintings and statues : and all the govern- 

 ment costumes were from his designs. 

 David had many pupils, and was not with- 

 out adherents; but, from the sanguinary 

 part which he had taken in the revolution, 

 he was shunned by the great and the good, 

 and seemed to lead the life of a proscribed 

 exile in the very centre of the gayest city in 

 Europe. 



David, it will be recollected, painted the 

 Coronation of Buonaparte, in conformity 

 with the instructions of his master. It was 

 not that picture, however, which was exhib- 

 ited in Pall Mall, between three and foiu- 

 years ago. On the restoration of the Bour- 

 bons, the expatriated painter retired to 

 Brussels ; and there he finished what he 

 considered to be an improved and height- 



ened copy of the original painting. That 

 painting was exhibited in London, where, 

 from various circumstances, it naturally at- 

 tracted much notice, and excited much 

 criticism. Buonaparte, Josephine, the Car- 

 dinal Caprara,and two or three other figures, 

 were universally allowed to be fine; but 

 the remaining cluster of two hundred and 

 ten people gave the painting the air of a 

 crowded stage, on which the leading actors 

 concentrated attention, whilst the sur- 

 rounding mutes had not grace enough to 

 be even naturally atfectcd. 



David, when he went into exile, an- 

 nounced to his pupils that he was about to 

 change his style, and that he would send 

 them from the Netherlands a specimen of 

 the true manner of colouring. Critics con- 

 sider him to have fulfilled this promise in 

 his Mars and Venus, which has been exhib- 

 ited with his Belisarius, Horatii, Brutus, 

 Rape of the Sabines, &c. "Mars, overcome 

 with fatigue, is stretched on a couch ; 

 Venus, who has risen to make room for 

 him, has one hand resting upon him, while 

 with the other she is placing a crown on 

 his head, which she is to bestow on condi- 

 tion that he quits the pursuit of arms. Mars 

 consents, and presents his sword as a token 

 of his sincerity. The graces are hastening 

 to disencumber the god of his armour; 

 Love is unloosing his sandal ; and every 

 attempt is making to render his return to 

 the field impossible." The disposition of 

 the scene is clever ; but the arrangement 

 is too studied : Mars is grand ; but Venus 

 wants voluptuousness of character : the 

 graces smile disagreeably, and the figure of 

 Love is ill-contrived and ill placed. The 

 redeeming virtue of the picture is in its 

 colouring, which is more brilliant in this 

 than in any of David's former productions : 

 so brilliant, indeed, that the spectator is 

 obliged to pause a moment, that he may 

 habituate his eye to the glare of the mingled 

 hues. 



We are unacquainted \vith M. David's 

 age ; but, at his death, he was considerably 

 more than seventy. M. Odevaere, one of 

 his disciples and friends, has published in 

 the Brussels' Oracle a pompous and in- 

 flated eulogy upon the deceased. It thus 

 concludes: — " Let Brussel be proud in 

 retaining the ashes of David. I propose 

 to beg his family to leave the remains of 

 him who was our master and friend to us, 

 to open immediately a subscription to raise 

 a monument to him in one of our principal 

 churches, and to have a funeral procession. 

 There shall be executed a mass and re- 

 quiem, with a grand orchestra; and, in 

 order to render this ceremony worthy of its 

 object, I propose to invite hither the artists, 

 and the friends of the arts, from all parts of 

 the kingdom, and from the neighbouring 

 countries." — A subscription was accord- 

 ingly opene<l, and a committee was ap- 

 pointed to regulate the funeral ceremony. 



