Grave of Jacques-Louis David

About

The Grave of Jacques-Louis David is an obelisque by an unknown artist in honor of the exiled French painter Jacques-Louis David in the Brussels Cemetery.

It was moved there from its original location after the artist's death on 25 December 1825 where his body had been resting in the old churchyard of the Collegiate Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula (now Brussels' cathedral) while waiting for posthumous rehabilitation to France. Howver, as a notable participant of the Reign of Terror, his body was not accepted for repatriation, and the lead-lined oak casket was left where it was. Thanks to an initiative by Jobard, a monument was erected with the text "À Jacques-Louis David restoreur de l'école moderne de peinture de France ici dessous" (To Jacques-Louis David, restorer of the school of modern art of France, buried here). In 1882 a grandson requested that the monument be moved to a more prominent location and the body was re-buried at the Mayor's circle in the city cemetery of Evere. On 4 March 1993 the council voted to give the grave monument status based on the historical legacy of David as a painter and the context of the obelisque symbolizing the great admiration that the...