DAVID Jacques-Louis (1748-1825) - Lot 105

DAVID Jacques-Louis (1748-1825) Head of a Syrian for the Turkish Ambassador in La Distribution des Aigles, 1810 Black pencil, later annotated "David f." lower right Height 20; Width 15.5 cm (slightly oiled, pasted on an old mount) Begun in 1808, the Distribution of Eagles was modified by David in October 1810 for presentation at the Salon on November 1. After Napoleon's divorce in December 1809, followed by his marriage to the Archduchess on April 2, 1810, it was not until October 8 that Denon became concerned about Josephine's undiplomatic presence in the painting. David was ordered to remedy the situation before the exhibition. David worked hard to modify his composition. On the left, he replaced Joséphine's ladies-in-waiting with a group of four figures, including one representing the ambassador of the Ottoman Porte, the effendy Mohammed Saïd-Haled. His pupil Suau reported that he used the head of a Syrian model for this purpose (see A.Schnapper and A. Sérullaz, "Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825", ed. RMN, Paris, 1989, pp.443-453).