Scene of the Flood

Girodet was one of Jacques-Louis David’s most talented and beloved pupils. In 1789 he received the Prix de Rome and set off for Italy, where he was to spend five years. The Italian journey led the artist to break with the classicizing approach he had learned from his teacher and to form his own individual style, a style which allows us to see Girodet as a precursor of Romanticism.

During the Empire, Girodet painted disaster scenes such as the Flood (D�luge). This painting was presented at the Salon of 1806.