General Étienne-Maurice Gérard (1773–1852)
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
77 5/8 x 53 5/8 in. (197.2 x 136.2 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Rogers and Fletcher Funds, and Mary Wetmore Shively Bequest, in memory of her husband, Henry L. Shively, M.D., 1965
Accession Number
65.14.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jacques-Louis David’s commanding portrait captures General Étienne-Maurice Gérard at the height of his military career Painted in 1816 in oil on canvas, the nearly two-meter-tall work presents the French officer standing in full uniform, his steady gaze upright posture conveying both authority and calm resolve. David, the leading painter of the Neoclassical movement, had recently gone into exile in Brussels after Napoleon’s defeat; this canvas belongs to the final phase of his career, when he continued to receive important commissions from former imperial officers now navigating the restored B...
About the Artist
Jacques Louis David · 1748–1825
Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825), born in Paris on August 30 to a prosperous family, faced early tragedy when his father was killed in a duel around age nine. Raised by his mother's two architect uncles after his mother departed, David overcame family resistance to architecture and a facial tumor that hindered his speech and studies at the Collège des Quatre-Nations. He began training under the Roc...