Jacques-Louis DAVID School

 Vestal
 Oil on oval canvas
 55 x 45 cm
 Around 1795

 If the period of creation of this painting is almost certain, its author remains mysterious to say the least... After asking several opinions, the same answer regularly comes back, that of the entourage of the great David. This master of the History of Art having certainly been the most prolific teacher, his entourage and his students are therefore composed of several hundred painters, spread over more than fifty years of creation. Our painting certainly created around 1795 is part of a pure neo-classicism by its subject as by its presentation.

 The touch is supple, thick, situated at the limit of the techniques of Jean-Baptiste Greuze and those very fine of David. This work could be a youthful work of a great painter in the making, whose technique and style could have evolved at the turn of the century.