Among the numerous pupils and followers of David who rose to fame,
honours, and wide popularity before Ingres became the acknowledged
head of the official school, the most distinguished were Gérard,
Girodet, and Gros. Baron F. P. S. Gérard (1770-1837), whilst following
on the whole the principles laid down by his master, knew how to
invest his work with more individual character, which stood him in
particular good stead in his portraiture. That this was recognised
by his contemporaries is proved by the fact that he became the
portrait painter _par excellence_ of the First Empire and the Bourbon
restoration, although his inclination drew him towards allegory and
mythology. There is undeniable distinction and fine characterisation
in such portraits as _The Painter Isabey and his Daughter_ (No. 332).
The nature of the subject debarred him from showing the strongest side
of his talent in the chillingly unemotional, but undeniably graceful,
_Psyche receiving Cupid’s First Kiss_ (No. 328), and in the _Daphnis
and Chloë_ (No. 329), which was bought in 1825 for £1000. They have
their counterpart in the cold and antique French sculpture of the
period.
A. L. Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (1767-1824) was of all David’s artistic
progeny the one painter who devoted himself to the purely pictorial
problem of concentrated light and shade, without, however, being able
to free himself from the domination of linear design. The compromise
of the two principles led to such unfortunate results as _The Sleep
of Endymion_ (No. 361) and _The Burial of Atala_ (No. 362). In _The
Deluge_ (No. 360), which was painted later, he shows pronounced
leanings towards a crude naturalism which exceeds in horror the most
cruel inventions of Ribera’s genius.