The Sack of Jerusalem by the Romans

François Joseph Heim

1824 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

Heim, the pre-eminent official painter of the Bourbon Restoration, is one of the least known painters to have achieved fame and success in France in the 1820s. His oil sketches have always been prized by connoisseurs, and this one is especially vigorous. It is one of two preparatory sketches for the much larger picture of the same subject that was shown at the Salon of 1824 (Musée du Louvre, Paris). The painting is filled with dramatic action as the Romans attack the Jerusalemites against a backdrop of classical buildings with crowds gathered on the steps.

Artist

François Joseph Heim

Date

1824

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 2002