Jacques Louis David was born in Paris in 1748. His father lost his life in a duel, and so he was cared for by his mother, who intended him to be an architect. The first instruction he received was from his great uncle, François Boucher; he was a pupil of Vien at the age of twenty-one.

Owing to pique, Vien prevented David winning the Prix de Rome in 1771. He competed unsuccessfully for the next two years (He attempted suicide once because of this failure.) and in 1774, he obtained the blue ribbon of French art. He accompanied Vien to Rome the following year; painted a little there, but drew from the antique mostly. They returned to France in 1780; his "Belisarius" procured his election to the Academie. He was admitted in 1783, for wh...