During a period of social, political, and cultural upheaval and transformations in France Jacques-Louis David emerged as the artistic leader of his epoch. The current volume, which covers the artist's entire career, provides a further step in the direction of nuanced thinking about David's art and brings to light new evidence concerning the artist, his legacy, and the culture in which he lived and worked. Well-known specialists address a broad range of topics that have wide-ranging implications for artistic and historical developments in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century France and Europe. The essays present new historical, archival, and interpretive material from diverse methodological vantage points in lucid prose that makes the volume particularly accessible to a broader public interested in learning more about the artist and his time.