Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne

Maker Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748 - 1825)

Additional Title(s)

Oath in the Tennis Court (sketch for)

Collections

European Painting Highlights

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca. 1791

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions21 3/4 x 16 5/8 in. (55.2 x 42.2 cm.)

DescriptionThis is a portrait sketch of Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne (1743-1793), a Protestant preacher from Nîmes in Southern France, who was key figure in the French Revolution.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Adele S. Browning Memorial Collection, gift of Mildred Browning Green and Honorable Lucius Peyton Green

Status

On view

Label TextThis sketch focuses our attention on the gleaming eyes and animated expression of an important figure in the French Revolution. Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne (1743-1793) was a Protestant preacher in Southern France who became instrumental in securing religious freedom for Protestants and Jews. This portrait sketch is one of several David made for an unrealized painting, The Oath of the Tennis Court, with which he intended to commemorate the historic meeting of representatives of the Estates General at Versailles, one of the inaugural events of the Revolution. The careful profile rendering of Rabaut Saint-Étienne’s features reveals his rapt attention to his political oath.

Object number78.20.2