Study for a Costume of a Civil Official

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Artist: Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825)
Medium: Pen and black ink and wash over black chalk
Size: 12 3/4 x 9 in. (32.39 x 22.86 cm)
Museum: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Rights: Public Domain Mark

This costume study for a civil official exemplifies the French Revolution’s utopian spirit. The Committee of Public Safety assigned Jacques-Louis David the ambitious task of reinventing the way French people dressed. He was to design clothes “more appropriate to republican morals and to the character of the Revolution, ” not just for government officials and the military but for the average French citizen as well. David completed the commission swiftly, producing a series of sharply drawn studies representing fanciful ensembles that blended influences of antique sculpture, military regalia, and theater.

John Moore, a Scotsman briefly residing in Paris in 1792, described David’s fashion designs—and their first fashion victims—in his journal.

Part of this dress is already adopted by many; but I have only seen one person in public completely equipped with the whole; and as he had managed it, his appearance was rather fantastical. . . . He is a tall man, and of a very warlike figure; I took him for a Major of Dragoons at least: on enquiry I find he is a miniature painter.

Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.