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Seated Woman Lamenting

Jacques Louis David French

Not on view


David had earlier depicted the grieving nurse on the right side of The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of His Sons with her head thrown back and tearing her clothes to expose her chest, a classical motif of female lamentation. However, he eventually opted for this more restrained pose. She covers her face with drapery, hiding from the viewer the sight of her features distorted by grief.

Seated Woman Lamenting, Jacques Louis David (French, Paris 1748–1825 Brussels), Black chalk, stumped, heightened with white chalk, squared in black and white chalk

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