The dominant figure in French neoclassical painting, even before the Revolution, was Jacques Louis David (1748-1825).
 He began as a classical and religious painter, an admirer of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, the history and genre painter.
 He was recommended to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts by a family friend, François Boucher, master of the rococo style.
He won the prestigious Prix de Rome and went to study there in 1775.
 He discovered the treasures excavated from Pompeii and other ancient sites, and entirely changed his style.
 Beginning in 1784 he painted works based on stories from classical literature, including Oath of the Horatii (1781), a celebration of duty and sacrifice in Roman times.
 When the French Revolution began in 1789, David became an active participant in the most extreme wing, the Jacobins, He supported the dissolution of the Academy of Fine Arts, and designed sets for revolutionary pageants and ceremonies.
His most famous picture of the period, Marat Assassiné (1793), adapted the facial expression and the limp arm of Christ in Michaelangelo's Pieta to depict the assassinated Jacobin leader, Jean Paul Marat.
 When the Jacobins fell in 1794, he was imprisoned twice for several months, but then resumed an active career as a portraitist and then as court painter for Napoleon Bonaparte.
When Napoleon fell and the monarchy was restored, he went into exile in Belgium.

French painting was dominated for years by David and his pupils, including Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835), and later Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867).
The later neoclassical painters put aside the political messages and concentrated on idealized figures and ideas of beauty;  they included François Gérard, who like David, made a famous portrait of Madame Récamier, much to the annoyance of David; Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1754-1829); Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1758-1823); Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) and Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson (1767-1824).
The dominant figure in French neoclassical painting, even before the Revolution, was Jacques Louis David (1748-1825).  He began as a classical and religious painter, an admirer of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, the history and genre painter.  He was recommended to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts by a family friend, François Boucher, master of the rococo style. He won the prestigious Prix de Rome and went to study there in 1775.  He discovered the treasures excavated from Pompeii and other ancient sites, and entirely changed his style.  Beginning in 1784 he painted works based on stories from classical literature, including Oath of the Horatii (1781), a celebration of duty and sacrifice in Roman times.  When the French Revolution began in 1789, David became an active participant in the most extreme wing, the Jacobins, He supported the dissolution of the Academy of Fine Arts, and designed sets for revolutionary pageants and ceremonies. His most famous picture of the period, Marat Assassiné (1793), adapted the facial expression and the limp arm of Christ in Michaelangelo's Pieta to depict the assassinated Jacobin leader, Jean Paul Marat.  When the Jacobins fell in 1794, he was imprisoned twice for several months, but then resumed an active career as a portraitist and then as court painter for Napoleon Bonaparte. When Napoleon fell and the monarchy was restored, he went into exile in Belgium.
French painting was dominated for years by David and his pupils, including Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835), and later Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). The later neoclassical painters put aside the political messages and concentrated on idealized figures and ideas of beauty;  they included François Gérard, who like David, made a famous portrait of Madame Récamier, much to the annoyance of David; Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1754-1829); Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1758-1823); Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) and Anne Louis Girodet-Trioson (1767-1824).
Neoclassicism in France