The Death of Hyacinth

1801 · Musée Rupert de Chièvres, Poitiers

mythological

Within Jacques-Louis David's studio there was a breakaway sect which was known by four names - the Barbus (Bearded ones), Penseurs (Thinkers), Méditateurs (Meditators) or Primitifs (Primitives). This small group called for paintings based on the unadorned purity of the linear designs on ancient Greek pottery and on the simple and direct compositions of the early Italian Renaissance. In terms of painting they produced very little, their best-known work being the moonlit and crystalline Death of Hyacinth by Jean Broc of 1801.

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About the Artist

Jean Broc

1771 – 1850

French painter and designer. He came from a family of shopkeepers and tailors and he served in the Republican army during the wars of the Vendée. By 1798 he was a student of Jacques-Louis David, who provided a small apartment in the Louvre where Broc often lived. With a group of David's students and some writers, Broc formed a dissenting sect called Les Primitifs, Barbus (bearded ones), Méditateurs or Penseurs. Broc was typical of the Primitifs in finding inspiration in Greek vase painting and Italian 15th-century art.

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