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212 - Jacques-Louis DAVID (1748–1825).
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Estimate €800 - €1,000
Sale commission
Description
Jacques-Louis DAVID (1748–1825). Letter, co-signed by 10 other artists, [Rome, April 1779]; 4 pages, in-4. Joint letter from the residents of the French Academy in Rome in support of their fellow artist, the sculptor Antoine-Léonard Dupasquier (1748–1828) [who had been expelled for showing disrespect to Joseph-Marie Vien, Director of the Academy]. They set out the facts: Dupasquier had come to the royal apartment to watch the Carnival spectacle alongside his fellow students, dressed in ‘a frock coat, which he had put on solely to conceal a very shabby suit, the only one he owned’, having no other means than the one hundred écus from the royal grant; he was then reprimanded by Vien for his poor attire: ‘We make no secret of the fact that, stung by a public affront, his quick temper led him to respond too heatedly, and that he overstepped the bounds of respect due to the Director’; but they point out that Dupasquier has been ‘tormented for a long time by a nervous disorder’, and that he was shocked ‘to see exposed the poverty he had hitherto endeavoured to conceal’. It would be “painful for us to see our comrade, the victim of a moment’s impetuosity, condemned for life to an indelible stain, which is detrimental to his talents”… In addition to David, the signatories included the painters Jean Bonvoisin, Jean-Antoine-Théodore Giroust and Jean-François Peyron; the architects Louis-Étienne De Seine, Jean-Louis Després, Jean-Augustin Renard, and the sculptors Pierre La Bussière, Jacques Lamarie, Jean-Louis Le Moyne and François-Marc Suzanne.
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About the sale Letters and Autograph Manuscripts – Part II
Auction location
Auction time 10/14/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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