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The Prisoner
Jacques-Louis Davidc. 1816–22
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
This drawing belongs to a series of enigmatic sheets that the French artist Jacques-Louis David created while living as an exile in Brussels from 1816 until his death in 1825. Many of these untitled works present close-up views of expressive heads and were given by the artist to his friends. This image of a turbaned man next to a hanging chain and oil lamp loosely references David's painting <em>The Intercession of Saint Roch</em> (1780) from much earlier in his career.
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Details
- Title: The Prisoner
- Creator: Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)
- Date Created: c. 1816–22
- Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 13.1 x 19.6 cm (5 3/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
- Provenance: (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 9, 1972, no. 13 bis, sold to Adolphe Stein, Paris and London), (Adolphe Stein, Paris and London, sold to Eugene V. Thaw, New York), (Eugene V. Thaw, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH), Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Drawing
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1973.36
- Medium: black chalk on cream laid paper
- Inscriptions: inscribed, at upper left, in black chalk: L. David, Brux.; inscribed, on an old support, now removed: 1 des. de L. David.
- Fun Fact: Scholars have suggested that Jacques-Louis David might have intended this drawing as a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, who the artist supported. The former leader died a prisoner on the island of Saint Helena in 1821.
- Department: Drawings
- Culture: France, 19th century
- Credit Line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Collection: DR - French
- Accession Number: 1973.36
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