To give a body and a perfect form to one's thought, this - and only this - is to be an artist.

After his loss in 1772 he engaged in a hunger strike which ended after 2. In this piece the artist. He met the influential early neoclassical painter Raphael Mengs (1728–1779) and through Mengs was introduced to the pathbreaking theories of art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768).

David later became an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) and was effectively a dictator of the arts under the French Republic. It was at this time that he developed his Empire style notable for its use of warm Venetian colours. David had a huge number of pupils making him the strongest influence in French art of the early 19th century especially academic Salon painting.