David was born in Paris in 1748, and in 1774 he would win the prestigious Prix de Rome, a 4 year scholarship to study art in Rome. He began working in the Rococo style under his cousin Boucher, but would soon abandon this style for the Neo-Classical. The Neo-Classical style was a revival of classical art and architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

In 1738 excavations began on the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, two coastal cities in Italy which were completely buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Soon after the start of these excavations published volumes detailing the treasures being unearthed began flooding into Europe. David was very interested in the art as well as the culture of ancient Rome. The Roman's strict code of morality was what the citizens of France wished to emulate in the wake of the Bourbon Kings fall and the subsequent rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Roman civic virtues of duty, honesty, and self sacrifice would carry over into the art of the Neo- Classicist's like David and Antonio Canova, replacing the frivolity and light subject matter of the Rococo period.

David would become the symbol of the "new France" , and would be the favorite painter of Napoleon Bonaparte. As such David would be active politically, voting for the death of Louis XV. On the cultural end David would be influential in founding the new Art Institute of France, replacing the old academy .

David's political ties wouldn't always work to his advantage. For his support of Napoleon, David would be forced into 2 exiles during his lifetime.

David would teach to his many students his belief in simple and understated figure arrangements as well as the emphasis of line over color. One of his most famous pupils was Jean Auguste Ingres, the great artist of the Romantic period, who always followed David's theory of line over color.