1778
Oil on canvas, 123 x 172 cm
Musée Fabre, Montpellier
David discovered the dramatically lit and forceful canvases of Caravaggio and his followers, and his full-length male nude and semi-nude studies such as Hector of 1778 and Patroclus of 1780 show how he had begun to use light and shadow to give weight and density to his figures.