In the context of Equestrian Portrait of Count Stanislas Potocki, discuss the Jacques-Louis David (1748–1824) of the Historical context.
Jacques-Louis David was a major French representative of Neo-Classicism, a 19th-century style in European academic art profoundly influenced by the aesthetic order and monumentality of classical antiquity. Between 1775 and 1780, David lived in Rome, where he was influenced by the paintings of Italian High Renaissance and early Baroque masters, prompting him to abandon the Rococo style, then dominant in France, in favor of an approach characterized, in the judgement of the art historian Kathryn Calley Galitz, by its precise contours, well-defined forms, and refined surfaces. David's style was also marked by a commitment to classical forms, echoing the visual language of Greek and Roman art, particularly following his visit to Naples in 1779. A prolific portraitist, David pursued commissions from an array of patrons, not only the aristocracy, but also what the art historian Allison Lee Palmer has called the "enlightened middle class". While the artist's political alliances shifted over time—he actively participated in the French Revolution before being appointed “First Painter to the Emperor” by Napoleon in 1804—David remained committed to the tenets of Neo-Classicism throughout his career.
hat Napoleon Naples Jacques-Louis David commission classical antiquity aristocracy pl Baroque High Renaissance Italian High Renaissance middle class Rococo Neo-Classicism patrons French Revolution