Circle of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825): 'Amor & Aphrodite at the Shrine of Athena', oil on canvas, dated 1818

Dim.: 115,5 x 136 cm (the frame)
Dim.: 96 x 116,5cm (the work)

The reverse of the canvas reads: ‘PEINT EN 1818 POUR LE COMTE DE SCHOENEBORN BRUXELLES’ (‘Painted in 1818 for the Count of Schoeneborn, Brussels’), below a faded and illegible note signed by L. David. The frame has a label with inventory number ‘No. 17.B.’ and an old expertise note, dated 1910. 

Following the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, Jacques-Louis David went into exile in Brussels in 1816, where he continued to work actively until his death in 1826. He established a studio at 7 Rue Léopold (formerly Rue Guillaume), where he maintained a steady practice, accepting commissions and training a new generation of artists. Among the students who studied under him in Brussels were Ignace Brice, Félix Jan Ferdinand Heynderickx, Jan Adam Kruseman, Michel Ghislain Stapeleaux, Josse-Sébastien van den Abeele, and François Verheyden, as well as the painter Sophie Rude (née Frémiet). Notably, two nieces of Napoleon, Charlotte-Napoléone and Zénaïde Bonaparte, also received instruction from David during this period.

The “Count Schoeneborn” referenced in the accompanying note reflects a standardized spelling of the German name Schönborn. The Schönborn family belongs to the historic German nobility and, by the early nineteenth century, comprised three principal branches located in Austria, Czechia, and Bavaria. David’s note specifically mentions Bavière (Bavaria), indicating that the painting was intended for Franz Erwein Damian Joseph von Schönborn-Wiesentheid, head of the Bavarian branch of the family. Franz Erwein von Schönborn was known to be an avid collector of art, which further supports this attribution.

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