[Born at Rome, 1770. Died in Paris, 1837. Aged 67.]
Studied under Pajou the sculptor, then with Brenet, and finally with
David, whom he assisted in several works, until 1794, when he exhibited
his own picture of “The Tenth of August” (the day of the storming of the
Tuileries in 1792). Under the influence of David, Gérard became one of
the jury of the Revolutionary Tribunal--an office from which he
subsequently shrunk. He received great honour and distinction at the
hands of Napoleon; and the Emperor Alexander, and the Duke of
Wellington, became his friends. A man of extensive knowledge, and, as a
painter, to be recommended for taste and refinement, rather than for
invention or sublimity. His colouring, though harmonious, is not always
true. His subjects were chiefly historical, and in these the arrangement
of the figures and the selection of costume are always pleasing. He was
also successful as a portrait painter.
[From a marble in the Louvre, by Pradier, 1838.]