Joseph-Désiré Odevaere (Bruges 1775-1830 Brussels)

First trained in Paris with another native of Bruges, Joseph-Benoît Suvée, Odevaere studied from 1801 with Jacques-Louis David, from whose advice and influence he would benefit throughout his career, which brought him back north, where he became official painter of William I, king of the Netherlands. In the present work, Odevaere followed the example of David’s large historic compositions, especially The Rape of the Sabine Women and Leonidas at Thermopylae (1799 and 1814, respectively; both Louvre). The drawing is mentioned in the artist’s estate, together with one depicting the fight between Greeks and Trojans over the body of Patroclus, and both were sold after his death with the right to be engraved. Hovere, no such prints seem to have been produced.