Until far into the eighteenth century, imitation of seventeenth-century Baroque painting dominated the artistic output in the Southern Netherlands. Meanwhile, around 1750, foreign artists in Rome were developing the style known as Neo-Classicism. This style, which focused on classical antiquity, culminated in the French school led by the painter Jacques Louis David. Joseph Benoît Suvée was the key figure in the introduction and flourishing of Neo-Classicism in Flanders. In 1771, before Jacques Louis David, he won the coveted Grand Prix at the Paris Academy. Later, Suvée was appointed a teacher at the Paris Academy and became director of the Académie de France in Rome. In this prominent position, Suvée played a major role in the education of young artists in Flanders. Thanks to his great influence, Bruges Neo-Classicism gained recognition at the European level. This ‘Dibutades’ or ‘The Discovery of Drawing’ is a perfect example of Suvée’s Neo-Classicist work. The style is cool and static, the composition well-balanced, and the whole displays a deliberate strictness and simplicity. The history piece, with subjects taken from the classics, is the most favourite genre of the Neo-Classicists. According to Pliny, the legend of Dibutades, who drew the outline of her lover on the wall by tracing his shadow, told of the origin of drawing. Suvée’s painting is a symbolic illustration of the Platonic philosophy of style underlying Neo-Classicism: art as the shadow of reality.
