Study for The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons

Study for The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons is a highly significant preparatory drawing by Jacques Louis David, executed between 1785 and 1791. Rendered in black chalk and brown ink on paper, this work details the composition for David's monumental Neoclassical painting depicting a tragic episode from Roman history. The subject centers on Lucius Junius Brutus, founder of the Roman Republic, who ordered the execution of his own sons for treason.

The drawing captures the profound emotional cost of this act of civic sacrifice. David focuses intently on the intense sadness and grief expressed by the human figures of Brutus’s family, particularly the women clustered on the right, contrasting their visible anguish with the stoic, shadowed figure of Brutus himself on the left. Through skillful use of black chalk to delineate forms and brown ink washes to establish depth and shadow, David plans the complex spatial arrangement and the dramatic lighting central to the final canvas.

As the foremost painter of the French Enlightenment and the subsequent Revolutionary period, David used such historical narratives to champion Republican virtue and the prioritization of the state over personal affection. This study for the painting, titled The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons to His House, demonstrates David's meticulous process in constructing the visual and psychological narrative. The piece resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it serves as a critical document of the artist’s draughtsmanship. Today, while the final painting remains iconic, preparatory studies like this drawing often become part of the public domain in photographic reproductions, allowing students and collectors access to high-quality prints detailing the master’s technique.