Benjamin perronnet V5 - Flipbook - Page 54
un casque tandis que Lucrèce tente de
se protéger en tirant un drap vers elle.
Le dessin 昀椀nal reprend cette composition tout
en l’inversant une nouvelle fois et en ajoutant
un personnage (un complice ?) derrière Sextus
Tarquin. Où placer le présent dessin ?
A par rapport aux deux feuilles du Louvre,
il présente la composition la plus éloignée
de celle du dessin 昀椀ni, même s’il est dans le
même sens et que Sextus Tarquin y est coi昀昀é
d’un casque. Il est également celui qui est tracé
le plus rapidement et de la manière la plus
schématique. Il est donc tentant d’y voir
une première idée. Comme les deux autres,
il montre une écriture quelque peu hésitante,
presque tremblante qui caractérise les derniers
dessins de David à Bruxelles et évoque
les dessins de la dernière partie d’un autre
géant de l’art français, Nicolas Poussin.
At the end of the sixth century B.C., Lucretia was the wife
of Tarquinius Collatinus, a close relative of King Tarquinius
in Rome. She was celebrated for her beauty and virtue.
One of the king’s sons, Sextus Tarquinius, tried to seduce
her, but Lucretia refused his advances, so he threatened
and raped her. Lucretia then summoned her father
and husband and tells them of the prince’s crime. After
demanding revenge, she commits suicide in front of them.
According to Livy, this tragic event led to the overthrow of
Tarquinius and the establishment of the Roman Republic.
Two other studies (Fig. 1 and 2) for a Rape of Lucretia are
in a sketchbook by David now in the Louvre, containing
a large number of studies for the Coronation and the
Distribution des Aigles, as well as studies made during
the artist’s exile in Brussels. The sheets in this sketchbook
measure 11.1 x 18.6 cm, which is very similar to the present
drawing. This drawing may therefore originally have been
part of the same sketchbook, from which we know that
several pages have been removed. As this drawing bears
the initials of David’s sons, Eugène and Jules, it is likely that
it’s been removed from the sketchbook after the artist’s
death. A fourth drawing representing the Rape of Lucretia
(Fig. 3), now in a private collection, is much more 昀椀nished.
It is dated by the artist ‘1825’, the year of his death.
It is di昀케cult to o昀昀er a precise chronology for the
composition’s development. In the 昀椀rst drawing in the
Louvre, in the order of foliation, the two 昀椀gures are naked
and Sextus Tarquinius, bareheaded, brandishes his sword
over his shoulder. The second drawing in the Louvre is
very close in composition to the 昀椀rst, but the composition
is reversed, with Sextus Tarquinius dressed as a soldier and
wearing a helmet, while Lucretia tries to protect herself by
pulling a sheet towards her. The 昀椀nal drawing repeats this
composition, but reverses it once again and adds a 昀椀gure
(an accomplice?) behind Sextus Tarquinius. Where can the
present drawing 昀椀t ? Compared to the two sheets in the
Louvre, it presents the composition furthest removed from
that of the 昀椀nished drawing, even though it is in the same
direction and Sextus Tarquinius is wearing a helmet. It is
also the one drawn most quickly and schematically. So it is
tempting to see it as David’s 昀椀rst sketch of the composition.
Like the other two, it shows a somewhat hesitant, almost
trembling outline that characterizes David’s last drawings
in Brussels and evokes the late drawings of another giant
of French art, Nicolas Poussin.
Fig. 3. Jacques-Louis David, Le viol de Lucrèce,
Localisation actuelle inconnue
54