Lot Essay
A preparatory study for the Marius à Minturnes painted in Rome in 1786 presented at the house of the artist's mother in Paris and shown at the Academy the following year. It attracted such attention and acclaim that Drouais was soon regarded as the most talented of David's followers. Drouais died at the early age of twenty-six, while still a pensionnaire at the Académie de France in Rome.
The subject was taken from Plutarch and depicts the moment when Marius, in exile at Minturnes, confronts a soldier sent by Sylla to murder him. The sheer strength of his heroic personality dissuades the soldier from committing the crime.
The picture was painted soon after David's departure from Rome. Drouais, the son of the famous court portraitist François-Hubert Drouais, won the Grand Prix in 1784 and in order to accompany David on his second trip to Italy travelled to Rome without waiting for d'Angeviller's authorization. The master, who worked on the royal commission of the Oath of Horatii, became an inspiration to the young painter. Drouais was even said to have assisted his master by painting one of the arms of the Horatii and the yellow cloak of Sabina. David's return to Paris threw Drouais into a frenzy of activity. Lagrenée, then Directeur de l'Académie, recorded 'Le Sieur Drouais travaille vigoureusement; mais il ne fait rien voir à personne, jusqu'à ce qu'un grand tableau auquel il travaille journellement soit terminé.' [Drouais works vigourously but he refuses to show anything to anybody until the great picture he is working on is completed.] The picture was exhibited in Rome on 25 August 1786 and critics immediately commended it. It was then sent to Paris and put on display at his mother's house. David reported in his autobiography 'le tableau qui fit courir toute la cour et la ville. On ne se lassa pas de l'admirer, on fut obligé de mettre des gardes à la porte de sa mère où le tableau était exposé afin qu'il n'y eut pas de désordre'. [The whole town and court came to see the picture. Nobody was tired of admiring it and it was even necessary to place guards at the door of his mother's home where the picture was shown to prevent disorder.], W. Wenkin, Documents Complémentaires au Catalogue de l'Oeuvre de Louis David, Paris, 1973, p. 153.
Several other drawings are related to the picture in Lille, Besançon and Lyon and from this group, three are of similar composition, two at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille and another at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs at Lyon. However, just like in the little study where Drouais had sketched the poses for Marius and the soldiers, one can notice the fold in the paper on the present drawing which suggests that the sheet was inserted in a letter which would have been sent to David himself. The Lille sheet actually bears David's handwriting which reads 'ne change rien, voilà, le bon' [Don't change anything, this is the right one]. Drouais was in the habit of sending his sketched ideas to David and a letter to the master dated from 13 June 1787 contained a similar drawing for the Philoctète. A very finished drawing of a soldier comparable to David's figure studies for the Horatii now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Angers, is in a New York private collection.
The subject was taken from Plutarch and depicts the moment when Marius, in exile at Minturnes, confronts a soldier sent by Sylla to murder him. The sheer strength of his heroic personality dissuades the soldier from committing the crime.
The picture was painted soon after David's departure from Rome. Drouais, the son of the famous court portraitist François-Hubert Drouais, won the Grand Prix in 1784 and in order to accompany David on his second trip to Italy travelled to Rome without waiting for d'Angeviller's authorization. The master, who worked on the royal commission of the Oath of Horatii, became an inspiration to the young painter. Drouais was even said to have assisted his master by painting one of the arms of the Horatii and the yellow cloak of Sabina. David's return to Paris threw Drouais into a frenzy of activity. Lagrenée, then Directeur de l'Académie, recorded 'Le Sieur Drouais travaille vigoureusement; mais il ne fait rien voir à personne, jusqu'à ce qu'un grand tableau auquel il travaille journellement soit terminé.' [Drouais works vigourously but he refuses to show anything to anybody until the great picture he is working on is completed.] The picture was exhibited in Rome on 25 August 1786 and critics immediately commended it. It was then sent to Paris and put on display at his mother's house. David reported in his autobiography 'le tableau qui fit courir toute la cour et la ville. On ne se lassa pas de l'admirer, on fut obligé de mettre des gardes à la porte de sa mère où le tableau était exposé afin qu'il n'y eut pas de désordre'. [The whole town and court came to see the picture. Nobody was tired of admiring it and it was even necessary to place guards at the door of his mother's home where the picture was shown to prevent disorder.], W. Wenkin, Documents Complémentaires au Catalogue de l'Oeuvre de Louis David, Paris, 1973, p. 153.
Several other drawings are related to the picture in Lille, Besançon and Lyon and from this group, three are of similar composition, two at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille and another at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs at Lyon. However, just like in the little study where Drouais had sketched the poses for Marius and the soldiers, one can notice the fold in the paper on the present drawing which suggests that the sheet was inserted in a letter which would have been sent to David himself. The Lille sheet actually bears David's handwriting which reads 'ne change rien, voilà, le bon' [Don't change anything, this is the right one]. Drouais was in the habit of sending his sketched ideas to David and a letter to the master dated from 13 June 1787 contained a similar drawing for the Philoctète. A very finished drawing of a soldier comparable to David's figure studies for the Horatii now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Angers, is in a New York private collection.