Jacques-Louis DAVID (Paris 1748 - Brussels 1825) - Lot 49

Jacques-Louis DAVID (Paris 1748 - Brussels 1825) Double-sided study sheet for Mars and Rhea Silvia Black pencil, pen highlights and brown ink. Signed and dedicated lower left "A ma belle-fille Annette David / L. David". (Slightly oiled, small stains). 21.5 x 17.5 cm Bibliography : Pierre Rosenberg, Louis Antoine Prat, Jacques Louis David, Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Leonardo Arte, Milan, 2002, T.II, p.1220, M.37, drawing mentioned, not reproduced). Our drawing, dedicated to David's daughter-in-law Annette, wife of Eugène David, is listed as missing in the artist's catalog raisonné. It was catalogued by Jules David in 1880 as belonging to him. The subject of Mars and Rhea is rarely illustrated: the vestal Rhea Silvia, daughter of the King of Alba Numitorou Amulius, is in love with the god Mars, who joins her in a dream. From their union Romulus and Remus are born. In his various studies for the subject, David produced a number of variations both in the vestal position and in the costumes of the protagonists (see: op. cit. supra, figs. 426 to 429).