WILLIAMSTOWN, MA.-The first exhibition to explore the transformation of Jacques-Louis David’s art following the French Revolution is presented at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute through September 5, 2005. Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile is also the first major exhibition in the U.S. to focus exclusively on David’s work. David was the most celebrated painter of his era and the leader of the Neoclassicist movement, which influenced Western art for generations. The exhibition includes many of the artist’s greatest paintings and recently discovered works that have never before been seen in the United States. Empire to Exile has been co-organized by the Clark and the J. Paul Getty Museum.

“As with our recent exhibitions of Klimt's landscapes and Turner's late seascapes, Empire to Exile reflects the Clark’s commitment to organizing groundbreaking exhibitions that add important new dimensions to our understanding of an artist we think we know well," said Michael Conforti, director of the Clark. “Empire to Exile is the perfect expression of the Clark's dual mission to advance scholarship while building popular interest in the arts, and this show is certain to delight both scholars and the public.”

Empire to Exile will feature 26 paintings and 22 works on paper, of which eight paintings and 11 works on paper have never before been exhibited in this country. The exhibition will unite major works drawn from private collections and the holdings of a range of leading national and international institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Fogg Art Museum, the Louvre, The National Gallery, the State Hermitage Museum, and the Chateau of Versailles. Organized into six sections, Empire to Exile will trace the evolution of David’s work from 1794, following the Reign of Terror, to his death in exile in 1825. Exhibition sections will include Art after Politics, In the Service of Napoleon, Portraits of the Consulate and Empire, Antiquity Revisited, Experiments in Expression, and Portraits in Exile.

“The exhibition will open up new ways of looking at this preeminent figure in European art and provide a much fuller understanding of his work outside the revolutionary context for which he is best known,” said Richard Rand, senior curator at the Clark. “The exhibition is filled with masterfully vivid and engaging oil paintings, from iconic portraits of prominent figures to playful depictions of mythological subjects. It is in the post-Revolutionary period that we see a fascinating combination of David’s public and private artistic persona, the antique and the modern, the traditional and the innovative.”

In the Service of Napoleon - Empire to Exile will explore David’s work as First Painter to the Emperor, a role he played during Napoleon’s reign from 1804 to 1815. After serving time in jail following the radical phase of the Revolution, David re-emerged in the first years of the nineteenth century as the leading artist in Europe. Despite his controversial reputation, he was appointed First Painter. During this time, David worked on commissioned paintings of Napoleon and other distinguished individuals in the Emperor’s circles. The exhibition will offer insight into David’s role in consolidating imperial power and establishing the visual language of the Empire.

This section of the exhibition will feature two of the finest portraits made of Napoleon: Bonaparte Crossing the Alps at Grand-Saint-Bernard (Musée National des Château de Malmaison, c.1800-1801) and The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1811-1812). Among other portraits will be an intimate and vivid panel of Napoleon from the Institut de France in Paris (c. 1806-08).