Cléombrote and Léonidas
c. 1795
Pen and black and brown ink, with brush and brown wash and touches of blue gouache, over red chalk, heightened with white gouache, on blue laid paper, laid down on gray laid paper
SEE IT IN PERSON
Not currently on view
In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026
Discussion
FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG
In the wake of the French Revolution, painting commissions were few, but polished drawings had a market. This work illustrates a scene from Plutarch’s series of biographies of famous men in which the Spartan king Léonidas spares the life of his traitorous son-in-law Cléombrote, exiling him from Sparta. After pleading for her husband’s life, the king’s daughter Chilonis departs with her banished husband and their two children.
Be the first to share your thoughts.
Sign in to join the discussion.
More like this
Jean Guillaume Moitte — Manius Curius Dentatus Refusing the 
Hannibal Swearing Eternal Enmity toward Rome
Alexandre Denis Abel de Pujol — The Death of Britannicus
Jean Guillaume Moitte — The Death of Seneca
Jacques Louis David — The Death of Socrates
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (French, 1767–1824) — Th
Jacques Louis David — The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies
Simon Francis Ravenet, the elder|Andrea Casali|John Boydell 
François André Vincent — The Clemency of Augustus (Corneille
John Hamilton Mortimer (British, 1740–1779) — A Sacrifice In
Unknown artist — Child Taking Oath before Classic Pyre (rect
Nicolas Henry Tardieu|Jean de La Fontaine|Lamotte-Houdar|Cha