Jacques-Louis David
古典主义画派奠基人——雅克-路易·大卫

Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in taste away from Rococo frivolity toward a classical austerity and severity, heightened feeling harmonizing with the moral climate of the final years of the Ancien Régime.
雅克-路易·大卫(1748－1825)是新古典主义时期一名影响深远的法国画家，被认为是那个时代的杰出画家。18世纪80年代，大卫的历史绘画自成一派，审美偏离了洛可可式的轻浮，朝着古典主义的朴素性和严肃性发展，画中的情感被提升，与当时旧制度统治末年的道德环境相协调。

Jacques-Louis David was born into a prosperous family in Paris on 30 August 1748. In class, he often covered his notebooks with drawings, and he once said, “I was always hiding behind the instructor's chair, drawing for the duration of the class.” Soon, he desired to be a painter, but his uncles and mother wanted him to be an architect.
1748年8月30日，大卫出生在巴黎一户富庶人家。在课堂上他的笔记本上常常画满了画。大卫曾经说：“我总是躲在老师的椅子后面，一节课的时间都在画画”。很快，大卫渴望成为一名画家，但他的叔父们和母亲都希望他成为一名建筑师。

David later became an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre, and was effectively a dictator of the arts under the French Republic. Imprisoned after Robespierre's fall from power, he aligned himself with yet another political regime upon his release, that of Napoleon I. It was at this time that he developed his Empire style, notable for its use of warm Venetian colours. After Napoleon's fall from power and the Bourbon revival, David exiled himself to Brussels, then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, where he remained until his death. David had a large number of pupils, making him the strongest influence in French art of the early 19th century, especially academic Salon painting.
后来大卫积极响应法国大革命，大力支持他的朋友马克西米利安·罗伯斯庇尔。同时，大卫也是法兰西共和国统治下艺术方面的绝对权威。罗伯斯庇尔垮台后，大卫被囚禁起来，出狱后他又投身于拿破仑一世领导的政权。也是在这个时期，大卫形成了绘画上的帝国风格，以使用暖色调的威尼斯色彩著称。拿破仑下台后，波旁王朝复兴，大卫逃到布鲁塞尔，之后到荷兰联合王国，留在那里直至辞世。大卫有很多学生，对19世纪早期的法国艺术产生了最深远的影响，尤其是在学术沙龙绘画方面。