Portrait of Jeanbon Saint-André
by DAVID, Jacques-Louis, Pen, black ink, wash and white highlights, diameter 182 mm
When in prison, David drew an oval portrait of a fellow detainee, the former Protestant minister, Jeanbon Saint-Andr�. Politically Saint-Andr� had much in common with David. David’s portrait shows him as upright and determined, with no hint of a man subdued by imprisonment. David, however, revealed his personal sense of injustice in an inscription in Latin at the bottom of the drawing: ‘A gift of friendship. Solace of affection. David made in chains Year III of the French Republic (1795) Messidor 20.’