A Distraught Woman with Her Head Thrown Back

A Distraught Woman with Her Head Thrown Back by Jacques-Louis David is a powerful example of the artist's preparatory drawing technique, executed circa 1775-1780. The work, classified as a drawing, utilizes pen and black ink with a delicate gray wash applied over an underdrawing in black chalk on laid paper. This layered technique allows David to establish strong contours while using the wash to define volume and shadow, emphasizing the dramatic force of the figure. The subject is captured in a moment of profound, perhaps theatrical, distress, indicated by the sharply angled neck and the contorted profile, suggesting deep suffering or intense grief.

This intense study falls within the formative period of David’s career, coinciding with the broader artistic shifts occurring in French art between 1751 and 1775. While the overt emotionalism anticipates aspects of Romanticism, the disciplined focus on clear form and academic line demonstrates the evolving rigor that would characterize David’s ultimate embrace of Neoclassicism. During his training in Rome and Paris, David often created emotionally charged figure studies as exercises in expressing classical pathos. The careful mastery of light and shadow achieved through the manipulation of black chalk and wash emphasizes the sculpture-like quality of the figure's head and neck.

Such drawings offer invaluable insight into the meticulous preparation David undertook for his major history paintings. This particular piece, held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., demonstrates the high standard of draftsmanship expected of masters of the Académie Royale. Although originally conceived as a study of human emotion and form, the clarity and dramatic power of the image mean that it is widely studied today. As this historically significant work is part of the extensive public domain, high-quality prints and digital reproductions are readily accessible for research and educational purposes.