Leucothea, Front View

1771–1773

Three failed attempts at the Prix de Rome

He competed three years running — with “Minerva Fighting Mars,” “Diana and Apollo Killing Niobe’s Children” and “The Death of Seneca” — and lost each time; after the 1772 defeat he went on a hunger strike that lasted two and a half days, until Michel-Jean Sedaine and Gabriel-François Doyen urged him to keep drawing.

1775–1780

Meets Mengs and encounters Winckelmann’s ideas

In Italy he met Anton Raphael Mengs, an advocate of the careful study of classical sources, who also introduced him to the theoretical writings of his friend Winckelmann; Mengs shaped David’s pre-revolutionary paintings, such as “The Vestal Virgin.”

October 1775 – July 1780

Pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome

In October 1775 he left for Italy with his mentor Vien, who had just been appointed director of the French Academy in Rome; he studied Poussin, Caravaggio and the Carracci, filled twelve sketchbooks, and in July 1780, after his stay was extended by a year, returned to Paris.