Head of a Child

David's Head of a Child from 1768 is among his earliest surviving works, painted when he was only nineteen and still a student of Vien at the Académie Royale. The rapid oil study of a child's head is an academic exercise in capturing fleeting expression and soft modeling, demonstrating the fundamental skill of recording life with confidence and economy. David would later submit repeatedly and unsuccessfully for the Prix de Rome before finally winning in 1774, and these early studies show him building the technical foundation that would eventually support his monumental history paintings. The sketch's freshness and directness anticipate the psychological penetration that would make his portraits among the most powerful in French art.

The small study captures the soft features of a child with warm, naturalistic modeling. The technique is more spontaneous and painterly than David's later, more controlled manner, with visible brushwork and warm flesh tones that reveal his pre-Roman Rococo training. The direct, sympathetic observation anticipates his finest portrait work.