Jacques-Louis David Paints the Republic

Jacques-Louis David was a French painter, referred to often as the father of the art movement, Neoclassicism. As its name suggests, Neoclassicism was a movement where artists and intellectuals gained a new interest (or renewed interest) in classical antiquity. David was undoubtedly the most famous of these painters. As much an intellectual as a painter, David was a member of the Jacobin Club, and was very involved in politics. He voted for the execution of Louis XVI. It has been suggested by some scholars that his passion for classicism is what made him embrace the French Revolution, especially a new republican government. I think that classicism appealed to David because of his political beliefs, much like other figures at the time, such as David’s close friend, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. So his political beliefs gave birth to this love for classicism that, I think, sparked in him a fervor that fueled an ability to communicate his political beliefs in a way that was visual, monumental, beautiful, and relatively subtle. There are three incredible paintings by David that capture me every time I see them. Oath of the Horatii (1784,) The Death of Socrates (1787,) and The Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789.)

All three paintings employ ancient Greek and Roman subject matter. Each painting shows us a virtue of the ancient Republic, in this case the importance of state over anything, even something as fundamental as family. In referring to classical antiquity, it’s important to realize that David was glorifying paganism, and so visually communicating his political belief, specifically his will to limit the power of the Catholic Church. All three paintings include accurate depictions of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts, this is what makes these three paintings come alive to viewers. The paintings, down to details like stools and cups, show you an accurate depiction of ancient life. They have a picturesque quality, which can be attributed to the paintings’ almost glossy smoothness and complete absence of brushstrokes. The year before David was born, the ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum were excavated for the first time. Imagine how much they were starting to uncover about ancient Rome and ancient Greece (keeping in mind the amount of Greek iconography that appeared in Roman art.) In 1775, after winning the Prix de Rome, David went to study art in Rome and as a result, came in direct contact with the artifacts and architecture of antiquity.

Oath of the Horatii was painted five years before the French Revolution, when many people were enticed by the thought of a new republic. On the left in the foreground of the painting, there are three brothers of the ancient Roman Horatii family. They are taking an oath to defend Rome to the death. Their father also partakes in this oath. On the right, there are two women seated whose sorrow seems so endless that they can’t even seem to keep their heads up. One of these women is a member of the Horatti family, but engaged to one of the Curiatii. The other woman is married into the Horatii family, but is the sister of the Curiatii. What David is showing, through the imagery of the three brothers, is one of the most primary virtues of the ancient republic—their loyalty to the state above all else. This virtue was relevant at the time of the French Revolution as well. By showing this idea of state before family, David was promoting a new nationalism amongst the people. He was reminding them never to abandon the state, and in doing so was simultaneously condemning the ways of the royal family, whose lavish personal spending ultimately placed the nation in incredible debt.

Two years before the French Revolution, David paints, The Death of Socrates. I believe this was an even bolder statement than Oath of the Horatii. Socrates was accused by the Athenian government of corrupting the youths with his teachings and defying the gods, and therefore was given the choice to either renounce his beliefs, or die by drinking poison hemlock. David’s The Death of Socrates depicts Socrates sitting upright in his prison cell speaking with his arm in the air. His elbow is locked in such a way that David is able to create these striking perpendicular lines with his arm. The painting captures the moment where Socrates is about to reach for the cup of poison hemlock. But Socrates is almost too preoccupied by his thoughts and speech to even touch the cup—he misses as he reaches for it. Socrates is shown speaking about the immortality of the human soul among his disciples. Like an ancient Roman frieze, the figures in the painting are all lined up perfectly. Also, each figure has their own individual expression. Crito sits at the edge of the bed with his hand on Socrates’ knee listening intently, Plato is seated at the foot of the bed with his head down in this sort of introspective moment of meditation, Apollodorus is the figure to the far right who throws up his hands in grief and disbelief that Socrates has chosen this fate. (By the way, this painting was roughly based on Plato’s Phaedo.)

In the background on the left you see Socrates’ wife waving goodbye to him. She seems to be waving goodbye to no one as he is too invested in his beliefs to even acknowledge her. So David has presented a new cult of civic virtues in this painting, namely, stoic austerity, and self-sacrifice for one’s beliefs. What I love about this painting is it shows the extent of David’s knowledge of classical antiquity. He is not only able to render artifacts precisely as they appeared in antiquity, but he was also able to put himself in the mind of a classical artist and paint like the ancient Greeks sculpted. Each figure seems to be three dimensional in the sense that you feel you are seeing them in the round. David also presents a very idealized image of Socrates. Socrates is supposed to be seventy years old in this picture, but his body is much younger. This was precisely the way Greek sculptors depicted their men. They did this because to them (the Greeks,) a toned and well-proportioned body was an outward manifestation of a striving for heroic excellence. This painting will blow you away (it’s at the Met.) David captures even the slightest of details, like the imprint of a shackle on Socrates’ leg, or the veins in the feet and arms.

At the onset of the French Revolution, David paints The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons. The Roman consul, Brutus, known as the founder of the republic, discovered that his sons were involved in a scheme to restore the monarchy. He condemns his sons to death without hesitation. David shows us the moment when the dead bodies of Brutus’ sons are being carried into his home. While the rest of his family is in complete dismay, Brutus sits alone in the shadows of the left foreground. He is poorly lit and seems to not be as commanding as the figure of Socrates and the Horatii brothers. What David is communicating to us is how deeply rooted his political beliefs are. He is showing us the extent of his belief in his state. David tells that if necessary, he would commit any act unwaveringly, even if it promised to result in a crushing moral dilemma. Some scholars say David was painting propaganda for the republic. What do you think?