Philippe-Laurent de Joubert

Jacques-Louis David painted Philippe-Laurent de Joubert around 1790, a portrait from his most politically engaged period when he was simultaneously producing history paintings of Revolutionary moral content and maintaining his portrait practice for the educated Parisian bourgeoisie. David's portraits from the 1780s and 1790s are among the finest in the French tradition: psychologically penetrating, compositionally severe, and technically accomplished without the decorative flattery of his Rococo predecessors. Joubert, a receiver general of finances before the Revolution, is depicted with the directness and gravity appropriate to a man of serious professional responsibility.

David renders Joubert with the sharp clarity and unflinching realism of his mature portrait style. The plain background and direct frontal gaze eliminate all decorative distraction, focusing entirely on the sitter's individual presence.