Jacques-Louis David (Paris, France, August 30, 1748-Brussels, Belgium, December 29, 1825) was a French painter of great influence in the neoclassical style. He sought inspiration in the Greek sculptural and mythological models, based on his austerity and severity, which was in keeping with the moral climate of the last years of the old regime. Later David became an active participant in the French Revolution, as well as a friend of Maximilien de Robespierre; He was actually the leader of the arts under the French Republic. Imprisoned after Robespierre's fall from power, he later aligned himself with the advent of another political regime, that of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was at this time that he developed his 'Empire Style', notable for the use of warm Venetian-style colors. Among its many students include Antoine-Jean Gros, Anne-Louis Girodet of Roussy-Trioson and the best known of all: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. This made him the most influential painter of nineteenth-century French art, especially in academic paintings.