Philippe Bordes was founding director of the Musee de la Revolution Francaise in Vizille, France, from 1984 to 1996 and is currently professor of art history at the University of Lyon.
This lavishly illustrated book catalogs the exhibition of Jacques-Louis David's late, post-exile work. Now showing at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and appearing at the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA, this summer, this is the first comprehensive retrospective on the artist in the United States. One of the most celebrated painters of his era, David (1748-1825) was exiled to Brussels in 1816 as the result of his loyalty and work as court painter to Napoleon. Bordes (Univ. of Lyons), who has published extensively on the French Revolution, David, and his contemporaries, here sheds new light on David's later work, which was not even appreciated until the 1980s, when Dorothy Johnson (Univ. of Iowa) published several important works on history paintings and the Getty and the Kimball Art Museum acquired some of David's works. Featuring 27 paintings and 29 drawings from the exhibition, many of which were previously inaccessible, this is a very readable book for general audiences; a time line, index, extensive bibliography, and footnotes make it a solid scholarly apparatus as well. Owing to the steep price, however, it is recommended only for larger public and academic libraries, as well as specialized collections.-Nancy Mactague, Aurora Univ., IL Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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