ROMANTIC AND CLASSIC ART

• Artists can appeal to our emotions

by analogies, buried memories or
sensuous use of colour
• Others satisfy our need for order
and permanence by creating
structures or compositions that
seem complete and permanent in
themselves

• These two traditions existed

together in harmony
• Sometimes could be applied to the
same painter

• In the 18th there appeared a division

more definite than anything that
had preceded it.

• The two opposing points of view

were reflected most clearly in the
work of two influential Scholars.
Winckelmann, 1755

Reflections on the Imitation

of Greek Art becomes the
standard text for Classicsm

Burke

philosopher/statesman 1756.
Inquiry into the origins of
the sublime standard text on
Romanticism
1. What was the essential
difference in the two
philosophies?
1. Classicism stated in
Winckelmann‘s words
that ‗art should aim at
noble simplicity and
calm grandeur.
2. The Romantics said
that art should excite
the emotions, in
particular the emotion
of fear, which was the
source of the sublime.
3. Romanticism proposed
a new set of human
values.
4. Anton Raphael Mengs. Self-
Portrait. c. 1775.
• 1755 Mengs a disciple and
personal friend of J. J.
Winckelmann
• Shares Winckelmann‘s
obsession with classical
antiquity

Anton Raphael Mengs – JJ Winckelmann

• Anton Raphael Mengs was born in 1728 in Aussig, Bohemia, into an artistic
family of German origin.
• About 1755, he became a close friend of the German archaeologist and art
critic J. J. Winckelmann, the author of the famous A History of Ancient
Art (1764).
• Mengs came to share Winckelmann's enthusiasm for classical antiquity, and
worked to establish the dominance of Neoclassical painting.
• At the same time the influence of the Roman Baroque remained strong,
particularly in his religious paintings.
• In Italy Mengs was
commissioned to paint a
series of portraits for the
King of Naples Charles VII,
• In October 1759, Charles VII
inherited the Spanish Crown
as Charles III and, as his
court painter, Mengs spent
several years (1761-1769) in
Madrid, painting decorations
in the Royal Palace and
portraying the important
persons belonging to the
court.
• From 1769 to 1772, Mengs
worked in Rome, decorating
the Camera dei Papiri in the
Vatican, and he returned to
Spain from 1773 to 1777.
• Charles III. 1761.
Goya - Charles III 1780

1. Striking difference to Mengs

Classical approach.

2. Mengs idealised likeness calls

attention to his station: Jewel
encrusted Maltese cross stately
posture and suit of armor call
attention to his stature as King.

3. Goya more informal contains

passing reference to Kings rank –
silk sash and medals on his chest.
4.
The personality is evident he is
shown as a huntsman with musket
and hound and rakish tricorn hat.
5.
These with his relaxed posture
suggest a warm and charming
personality.
• Mengs was widely regarded in his
day as Europe's greatest living
painter.
• Although he died at the early age
of fifty (1779) he had a profound
influence not only on his native
contemporaries but also on
Roman, French and Spanish
artists.
• Mengs's treatise Reflections on
Beauty and Taste in
Painting (1762) was also
influential in his day

• Charles IV as Prince
1. Describe Meng‘s ‗Parnassus‘ Is it pure? Why? What does ‗vapid dream of
connoisseurs and collectors‘ mean?
1. Made up of all the fashionable clichés of the time
2. Fundamentally frivolous
3. Is not a reflection of life, but rather fulfils the expectations of the
collectors and connoisseurs of the time.
 • David, ambitious and
excitable, competed
in 1771 for the Prix de
Rome, which went to
Suvée.
• In 1772 David lost out
to Jombert and Le
Monnier, and he
nearly killed himself
in despair.
• In 1773, his Seneca
was passed over in
favour of Peyron's
more Poussin-like
version.
• David finally won the
prize in 1774 with
Antiochus and
Stratonica,

1. Jacques-Louis David (30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825)

2. 1775 won the diploma of the Paris Academy and was sent to Rome (attempted to win
the Prix de Rome, an art scholarship to the French Academy in Rome, five times.)
3. Arrived classical revival was in full flight
4. Excavations of Pompey were not 20 years old
5. David affected by the obsession with everything Roman
6. Returned to Paris determined to revive in painting the virtues of the ancients
The Ruins of Pompey
• By the 1st century AD, Pompeii was/is one of a
number of towns located around the base of
the volcano, Mount Vesuvius.
• The area had a substantial population which
grew prosperous from the region's renowned
agricultural fertility.
• Many of Pompeii's neighbouring communities,
most famously Herculaneum, also suffered
damage or destruction during the 79 eruption
• Herculaneum was
properly rediscovered in
1738 by workmen
digging for the
foundations of a summer
palace for the King of
Naples, Charles of
Bourbon.
• Pompeii was
rediscovered in
excavations in 1748.
• These towns have since
been excavated to reveal
many intact buildings
and wall paintings.

A depiction of the eruption which buried

Pompeii (from BBC's Pompeii: The Last
Day). The depiction of the Temple of
Jupiter and the Temple of Apollo are
nonetheless inaccurate as these temples
had been destroyed in the earthquake 17
years earlier.
How would you describe the Style of
David, in what way was he a rebel?

1. He was a Classicist but in revolt

against the style of Mengs
2. His Classicism was more nourished
by contact with nature and
3. A passionate involvement with
everyday life.
4. In politics as well as art he was a
rebel

5. Early painting, count Potocki on

horseback still in the style of 18th C
painting
6. Bravura piece of the ancient regime

The Portrait of Count Stanislas Potocki is a 1780

equestrian portrait of the Polish patron, politician and
writer Stanisław Kostka Potocki
It was painted in Rome when the artist and subject met
during David's stay at the Villa Medici after winning the
first prize for painting in the Prix de Rome.
David chose a subject from ancient
history to illustrate his Roman ideals

• The story of Belisarius was that of a

loyal and successful general in the
service of the Byzantine emperor
Justinian.
• He had won major victories against
the Vandals, Goths and Bulgarians,
but he then became implicated in
political intrigues, was accused of
treason and disgraced.
• He became an outcast and was even
reduced to begging; one version of
the story also said that his eyes were
put out.

Sketch for the painting ―Le Belleser‖ (Belisarius)

Baron François Gérard - c. 1805-6
What was David‘s first
serious attempt in
painting?
• Belisarius begging for alms –
the aged general recognised
by one of his soldiers.
• What is characteristic of his
style in this picture, what is
his trademark?
• It is Davidian it its large
gestures
• A trademark symbol is the
open palm gesture
• What was his concern
about this painting? What
did he really want?
• It was much admired but
David was unhappy about it.
• He felt it was too traditional
and not the kind of classicism
the age demanded
• Too much a connoisseurs
picture
• He wanted a classicism that
was revolutionary and appeal
to the people
• David was allowed to stay at the French
Academy in Rome for an extra year, but
after 5 years in Rome, he returned to
Paris.
• made a member of the Royal Academy,
sent the Academy two paintings, and both
were included in the Salon of 1781, a high
honour.
• After the Salon, the King granted David
lodging in the Louvre, an ancient and
much desired privilege of great artists.
• When the contractor of the King's
buildings, M. Pécoul, was arranging with
David, he asked the artist to marry his
daughter, Marguerite Charlotte.
• This marriage brought him money and
eventually four children. David had his
own pupils, about 40 to 50, and was
commissioned by the government to paint
"Horace defended by his Father", but he
soon decided, "Only in Rome can I paint
Romans."
• His father-in-law provided the money he
needed for the trip, and David headed for
Rome with his wife and three of his
students, one of whom, Jean-Germain
Drouais (1763–1788), was the Prix de
Rome winner of that year.
Jacques-Louis David‘s facial abnormalities
were traditionally reported to be a
consequence of a deep facial sword
wound after a fencing incident.
1. These left him with a noticeable asymmetry
during facial expression and resulted in his
difficulty in eating or speaking (he could not
pronounce some consonants such as the
letter 'r').
2. A sword scar wound on the left side of his
face is present in his self-portrait and
sculptures and corresponds to some of the
buccal branches of the facial nerve. An
injury to this nerve and its branches are
likely to have resulted in the difficulties with
his left facial movement.
3. Furthermore, as a result of this injury, he
suffered from a growth on his face that
biographers and art historians have defined
as a ―benign tumour‖
4. Witty banter and public speaking ability
were key aspects of the social culture of
18th century France. In light of these
cultural keystones, David's tumor would
have been a heavy obstacle in his social
life.David was sometimes referred to as
"David of the Tumor"
Many would feel it was a good example of what
they would expect from a work of art
A perfect illustration to social History
What mood does the painting illustrate
1. New mood of moral earnestness
2. Stoicism that preceded the French revolution
How has he done this?
1. Combination of realism and archaic rigour in
the style
2. A grave acceptance of fact which separates it
from the vapid orthodox classicism of Mengs
How is it ‗perfectly classical?
1. A frontal composition
2. Concentrated action
3. Elevated expressions and accurate
accessories.
What would have shocked the purists?
1. His particularisation of the open hand
2. The stark Doric columns
3. These were considered outside the canon of
classical elegance
4. But were chosen deliberately as a symbol of
Roman virtue and primitive strength.
1. What does David‘s try to demonstrate with the depiction of the men on the
right and the women on the left?
2. The soft lines of the woman on the right soft sensuous incapable of action.
3. The men vigorous and erect and strong.
1. Where did David get the idea for the poses of the men on the left from?
I. Fuseli‘s Witches from Macbeth
2. How would David owe a debt to Caravaggio? Why is that surprising?
I. Caravaggio the arch Romantic should not have influenced him
II. But he was revolutionary in his thinking and the realism of Caravaggio would have
been a contributing factor
III. The same use of the open hand
What French painter could have influenced David?
The Testament of Eudamidas by Poussin 1643 Parallel composition to weeping
women on the right.
1. What does ‗jolie matiere‘ mean in this
context?
1. There is a feeling for the quality of
the paint
2. Inherited from his pre-revolutionary
days as an indulgence of which he
was not entirely willing to forgo.
3. Habitually used in his portraits
2. Was the public affected by this
painting?
1. What other work could have
affected people’s opinions at this
time?
2. His paintings had the public
importance of a manifesto
3. The most successful of painters
who dream that their work can
have an effect on the lives and
beliefs of the people who view
them.
4. This was a period in time when
paintings did indeed have an effect
on public opinion
The marriage of Figaro
1. Not written for fun – but
revolutionary and a challenge to

the existing social order.

2. From 1780 – 1790 every play
and ballet was interpreted

politically.
 David – The death of Socrates 1787

The Death of Socrates is considered the least Davidian of the paintings between
the Horatii and the revolution.
Why?
The History and ethos of Greece was considered less in harmony with his
character than those of Rome.
1. No doubt the subject was chosen as an example of sacrifice in service of the
people.
2. The motives for Socrates to swallow the Hemlock were too complex for a man
whose mind moved in the realm of action.
3. The picture is greatly composed but lacking in David‘s personality.
What is unappealing about the
picture of the Lictors bringing
back the bodies of Brutus‘s
sons?
• The Lictors bringing back to the
house of Brutus the bodies of
his two sons whom he had
condemned to death.
• Does not appeal to the
humanitarian ideals of today
but in the 18th C seemed the
very essence of patriotic zeal.
• calculated to inflame zeal
because it dealt with traitors
• As a peace of propaganda its
success was instant.

“Capitoline Brutus”. Bronze, Roman artwork of the

Republican Era, 4th-3rd centuries BC.
What is it that makes
this painting
successful? What is the
‗conflict‘ in Davids‘s
panting?
1. The conflict between
masculine and
feminine spirit
2. The figure of Brutus is
placed in a brooding
shadow
3. Contrasted with a
Niobe and a bacchante
4. David deeply
appreciative of feminity
5. Socrates and Leonidas
show less warmth and
personal interest
6. In his greatest works,
the drama of the
conflict between the
masculine and
feminine spirit.
Niobe

1. Niobe's entire family was killed after she angered

the God Leto and her 2 children Apollo and
Artemis
2. In shock, she cradled the youngest daughter in
her arms, then fled to Mt. Siplyon in Asia Minor.
There she turned to stone and from the rock
formed a stream (the Achelous) from her
ceaseless tears. She became the symbol of
eternal mourning.
3. A Bacchante in Roman mythology is a female
follower of Bacchus, god of wine and intoxication.
4. In Greek mythology, they are called Maenads.
Bacchantes are depicted as mad or wild women,
running through the forest, tearing animals to
pieces, and engaging in other acts of frenzied
intoxication.
The French Revolution

Many interrelated political and socioeconomic

factors contributed to the French Revolution.
To some extent, the old order succumbed to its
own rigidity in the face of a changing world.
Causes of the French Revolution include the following

 A poor economic situation and an unmanageable national debt were

both caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable
system of taxation, the massive spending of Louis XVI and the many wars
of the 18th century;
 A resentment of royal absolutism;
 An aspiration for liberty and republicanism;
 A resentment of manorialism (seigneurialism) by peasants, wage-
earners, and, to a lesser extent, the bourgeoisie;
 The rise of Enlightenment ideals;
 Food scarcity in the months immediately before the revolution;
 High unemployment and high bread prices resulting in the inability to
purchase food;
 A resentment of noble privilege and dominance in public life by the
ambitious professional classes;
 A resentment of religious intolerance;
 The failure of Louis XVI to deal effectively with these problems.
By the 18th century, the French society was categorized into three Estates:
First, Second, and Third.
1. The First Estate consisted of the clergy
2. while the Second Estate comprised the nobility. These two classes were at
the top of the social hierarchy, and represented the more privileged groups.
3. The rest of the citizens, including peasants and bourgeoisies, were at the
bottom of the hierarchy.
1. The First Estate, which made up
about one percent of the total
population, was divided into two
groups: upper and lower.

2. The upper clergy included

archbishops, bishops, and
abbots.

3. Due to the power of the Roman

Catholic Church, these people
were exempt from
most taxes.

4. These men of high status and

privilege enjoyed luxurious lives
in their large palaces.

5. Meanwhile, the lower clergy,

which The cleryman and nobleman represent the
included poorly-paid village First and Second Estates. They are riding on
priests, had to suffer along with the back of an aged peasant, representing
the third class peasants the Third Estate.
1. The Second Estate was composed of
about 30,000 families who belonged
to the nobility duke and duchess,
count and countess, and marquis
and marquess.
2. Like the clergy, the nobility
represented another privileged
Estate.
They held the highest position in the
Church, the army, and the
government.
3. As well, they were exempt from
paying taxes of any kind.
4. They collected rent from the peasant
population who lived on their lands.
They also collected an extreme
amount of customary dues, as
well as dues on salt, cloth, bread,
and wine.
5. Most of the nobility was descendants
from the warriors, who helped the
King conquer France in the early
days.
6. They lived a life of lordly ease and The Swing, painted in 1767 by Jean
luxury and enjoyed great privileges.
Honoré Fragonard,
1. Totaling about 26 million
citizens, the Third Estate
consisted the bourgeoisie,
the peasantry, and the
urban artisans.
2. The bourgeoisie, which
included merchants,
manufacturers, bankers,
doctors, lawyers, and
intellectuals, were generally
prosperous and often as
wealthy as nobles.
3. However, wealth in the
‗ancien‘ regime did not
mean status or privilege.
4. Since ―success‖ in this time
period meant status and
privilege, wealth was
nothing by itself.
1. The rest of the
people of the Third
Estate, about 21
million, were largely
peasants and
commoners.
2. They own tiny farms
or lived and worked
on the farms that
belonged to the
nobles or the
Church

3. Although these people were the poorest, they were

responsible of taxes of all kinds.
4. They paid taxes to the King, taxes to the church, taxes and
dues to the lord of the manor, as well as numerous indirect
taxes on wine, salt, and bread. As described, most of the
peasants and laborers lived desperately poor lives.
5. This explains why the Third Estate led the revolution.
This meeting of the Three Estates is called the Estates-General.
King Louis refused to talk to the Third Estate and the Third Estate was forced to
wear black clothes. Then, the enraged representatives demanded that they are
called as the National Assembly from now on, because they represent almost
the whole nation.
1. In the beginning, David was a
supporter of the Revolution, a
friend of Robespierre and a
member of the Jacobin Club.
2. While others were leaving the
country for new and greater
opportunities, David stayed to
help destroy the old order
3. David swore the oath of the tennis
court and voted in the National
Convention for the Execution of
Louis XVI.
4. Much time spent in organising
fetes and processions
5. Designing uniforms
6. He spent time beginning a vast
picture of the ‗Oath of the Tennis
court‘
7. This was cut up so we only have
the preliminary drawings
8. Republican costume designed by David. Engraving
by Denon.
The Oath of the Tennis-Court, Versailles, 19 June 1789
What was the oath of the tennis court?
i. The Oath of the Tennis-Court is considered the inaugural moment of the French Revolution.
ii. Before the revolution, political re-presentation was divided into three Estates,
iii. the first two being made up of the nobility and clergy, while 96 percent of the population was
represented under the Third Estate.
iv. In 1789 a stalemate developed over whether votes would be cast by Estate, thereby privileging
the nobility and clergy who were sure to vote together, or by head, which would give the Third
Estate the majority.
v. The Third Estate withdrew from the Estates General, declaring itself a new National Assembly.
Finding themselves locked out of their hall, they moved their meeting to an indoor tennis-court
where they swore an oath not to disband until a constitution had been drawn up for France.
Louis XV1 makes one
diplomatic blunder after
the other in an attempt to
retain power.
1. The nobles backing
him try to enforce
power
2. The representatives
of the third estate
refuse to budge to
intimidation
3. King Louis tries to
have them evicted by
using force
4. The Army refuses to
co-operate
5. Louis then calls upon
foreign army of
Germany and Swiss
• In June 1791, the King made an ill-fated attempt to
flee the country (flight to Varennes)
• but was apprehended short of his goal on the Austrian
Belgian border and was forced to return under guard to
Paris.
• Louis XVI had made secret requests to Emperor Joseph II
of Austria, Marie-Antoinette's brother, to restore him to
his throne.
• This was granted and Austria threatened France if the
royal couple were hurt.
• In reaction, the people arrested the King. This led to an
Invasion after the trials and execution of Louis and Marie-
Antoinette.
• The Bourbon monarchy was destroyed by the French
people in 1792—it would be restored after Napoleon, then
destroyed again with the Restoration of the House of
Bonaparte.
• When the new National Convention held its first meeting,
David was sitting with his friends Jean-Paul Marat and
Robespierre.
• Robespierre‘s agents discovered a secret vault of the
king‘s proving he was trying to overthrow the
government, and demanded his execution.
• The National Convention held the trial of Louis XVI and
David voted for the death of the King, which caused his
wife, a royalist, to divorce him.
• Maximilien Robespierre
Let them eat cake – Kirsten Dunst
"Let them eat cake" is the traditional but incorrect translation of the French phrase "qu'ils mangent de la
brioche." Brioche is actually a type of egg bread enriched with a large proportion of butter, rather than any
type of dessert or confection.
While commonly attributed to Marie Antoinette, the oldest source that anyone has found is The
Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
English biographer and author of Marie Antoinette The Journey, Antonia Fraser, states: "[Let them eat
cake] was said 100 years before her by Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV. It was a callous and ignorant
statement and she, Marie Antoinette, was neither.
Marie Antoinette by
Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-
Lebrun; Vigée-Le Brun 1788
Alexandre Kucharsky
Marie
Antoinette's
execution on 16
October 1793
The Death of Marat
• Has become one of the most
famous images of the French
Revolution.
• This work refers to the
assassination of radical journalist
Jean-Paul Marat, killed on the 13th
of July 1793 by Charlotte Corday, a
French Revolutionary figure from a
minor aristocratic family.
• Corday, who blamed Marat for the
September Massacres and feared
an all out civil war, claimed "I
killed one man to save 100,000.―
• Jean-Paul Marat (24 May 1743 – 13
July 1793), was a Swiss-born
French physician, philosopher,
political theorist and scientist best
known as a radical journalist and
politician from the French
Revolution.
• Marat often sought the comfort of
a cold bath to ease violent itching
due to a skin disease long said to
have been contracted years earlier,
when he was forced to hide from
his enemies in the Paris sewers. The Death of Marat (French: La Mort de Marat)1793
This painting demonstrates an important
distinction between Classicism and
Romantic Art.
1. His Classical training is vital in this
instance to produce an image that gives the
impression of absolute truth whilst at the
same time idealising it. For example, the
painting contains no sign of his skin
problems.

2. Classicism is presented here as ‗State Art‘

in which an image is part and parcel of a
state founded on order and subordination
in which the Art should be subordinated.
3. Romantic paintings
4. Classic attitudes towards subject matter is
that it ought to be clear and unequivocal –
supports the attitude of unquestioning
belief.
5. Totalitarianism needs images that are
I. Real enough to please the ignorant
II. Ideal enough to present a national
hero
III. Well designed to present a memorable
image
6. One sees how perfectly the Marat painting
fits the bill.
 Trial and Execution

• At her trial, Corday testified that she

had carried out the assassination
alone, saying "I killed one man to
save 100,000." It was likely a
reference to Maximilien
Robespierre's words before the
execution of King Louis XVI.
• On 17 July 1793, four days after
Marat was killed, Corday was
executed under the guillotine and
her corpse was disposed of in the
Madeleine Cemetery.
• The assassination did not stop the
Jacobins or the Terror: Marat
became a martyr, and busts of him
replaced crucifixes and religious
statues that had been banished
under the new regime.
1. The Death of Marat has often
been compared to Michelangelo's
Pietà. Note the elongated arm
hanging down in both works.
2. David admired Caravaggio's works,
especially Entombment of Christ,
which mirrors The Death of Marat's
drama and light.
3. David sought to transfer the sacred
qualities long associated with the
monarchy and the Catholic Church to
the new French Republic.
4. He painted Marat, martyr of the
Revolution, in a style reminiscent of a
Christian martyr, with the face and
body bathed in a soft, glowing light.
5. As Christian Art had done it from its
beginning, David also played with
multileveled references to Classical
Art.
6. Suggestions that Paris could compete
with Rome as Capital and Mother City
of the Arts and the idea of forming a
kind of new Roman Republic appealed
to French Revolutionaries, who often
formed David's audience.
Widely admired during the Terror
whose leaders ordered several copies
of the original work (copies made in
1793–1794 by David's pupils to serve
propaganda)
1. The Death of Marat lost its prestige
after Robespierre's overthrow and
execution.
2. At his request, it was returned to
David in 1795, who was in turn
arrested for his involvement in the
terror and his friendship with
Robespierre (he would have to wait
for Napoleon's rise to become
prominent in the arts once more).
3. From 1795 to David's death, the
painting languished in obscurity.
During David's exile in Belgium, it
was hidden, somewhere in France,
by Antoine Gros, David's dearest
pupil.
4. Marie Antoinette on her way to her execution –
sketched by David
David is possibly remembered
today as an great portraitist, an
accolade that he would probably not
relish
Seriziats painted immediately after
his release
In the Portrait of Antoine-Laurent
Lavoisier and his wife
• The man and his wife are tied
together in an intimate pose. She
leans on his shoulder while he
pauses from his work to look up at
her.
• David casts them in a soft light, not
in the sharp contrast of Brutus or of
the Horatii.
• Lavoisier was a tax collector, as well
as a famous chemist.
• Though he spent some of his money
trying to clean up swamps and
eradicate malaria, he was
nonetheless sent to the guillotine
during the Reign of Terror as an
enemy of the people.
• David, then a powerful member of
the National Assembly, stood idly by
and watched.
The Intervention of the Sabine Women. 1799.
After David‘s wife visited him in jail, he conceived the idea of telling the
story of the Sabine Women.
• The Sabine Women Enforcing Peace by Running between the Combatants, also called
The Intervention of the Sabine Women is said to have been painted to honor his wife,
with the theme being love prevailing over conflict.
• The painting was also seen as a plea for the people to reunite after the bloodshed of the
revolution
• The theme has changed from stoic patriotism to
• Conciliation effected by the tender emotions
• Unfortunately certain conventions interfered for example the heroes are depicted with
armour in the drawings but nude in the final which is the result of Winckelmann‘s theory
being applied with rigid dogmatism that combatants fought in the nude in these times as
well as the theory of heroism is depicted in idealised human forms
David conceived a new style for this
painting, one which he called the "Grecian
style," as opposed to the "Roman style" of
his earlier historical paintings.
• The new style was influenced heavily by the
work of art historian Johann Joachim
Winkelmann.
• In David's words, ―the most prominent general
characteristics of the Greek masterpieces are
a noble simplicity and silent greatness in pose
as well as in expression.‖
• This work also brought him to the attention of
Napoleon.
• The story for the painting is as follows: "The
Romans have abducted the daughters of their
neighbors, the Sabines.
• To avenge this abduction, the Sabines
attacked Rome, although not immediately—
since Hersilia, the daughter of Tatius, the
leader of the Sabines, had been married to
Romulus, the Roman leader, and then had two
children by him in the interim.
• Here we see Hersilia between her father and
husband as she adjures the warriors on both
sides not to take wives away from their
husbands or mothers away from their children.
• Although David did rely on
the story of Classical
examples in Greek and
Roman art works as well as
artists such as Flaxman, he
always used models of
friends and pupils.
• It is in his portraits that he
shows us his skill of
generalising directly from
Models
• This is visible in his portrait
of Madame Verninac.
• Coincidently she was De La
Croix‘s sister
Jacques-Louis David. Portrait of Mme Récamier. 1800.
1. Juliette Récamier (1777-1849) was one
of the foremost society beauties of the
day. Daughter of a banker from Lyon,
in 1793 at the age of 16 she had
married a 43-year-old banker, a
business acquaintance of her father's.
2. Unfortunately, her sitting for the portrait
proved problematic – the model was
whimsical, spoilt and constantly late; the
artist was irritated with her and with the
lightning of the room, where she sat for
him.
3. Although the portrait reached an advanced
stage, it was never finished.
4. ―David's picture of her as a distant yet
fragile and vulnerable young woman did
not match Mme Récamier‘s image of
herself as a confident and sophisticated
society figure, and so she was to turn
instead to David's pupil Gérard to satisfy
her wishes.
5. David finally informed her: ―Madame, ladies
have their caprices; so do painters. Allow
me satisfy mine; I shall keep your portrait
in its present state.‖ Though attempts were
made to bring about a reconciliation, it
never occurred.‖
Abbé Sieyès
1. French Roman Catholic abbé
and clergyman, one of the
chief theorists of the French
Revolution, French
Consulate, and First French
Empire.
2. His liberal 1789 pamphlet
What is the Third Estate?
became the manifesto of the
Revolution that helped
transform the Estates-
General into the National
Assembly in June of 1789.
3. In 1799, he was the instigator
of the coup d'état of 18
Brumaire (9 November 1799),
which brought Napoleon
Bonaparte to power.
4. He was also the first to coin
the term "sociologie" (French
for "sociology") in an
unpublished manuscript
• In one of history's great
coincidences, David's close
association with the Committee
of Public Safety during the
Terror resulted in his signing of
the death warrant for one
Alexandre de Beauharnais, a
minor noble.
• De Beauharnais's widow, Rose-
Marie Josèphe de Tascher de
Beauharnais would later be
known to the world as
Joséphine Bonaparte, Empress
of the French.
• It was her coronation by her
husband, Napoleon I, that David
depicted so memorably in the
Coronation of Napoleon and
Josephine, 2 December 1804.
• Portrait of the Empress Joséphine, by François
Gérard
Joséphine kneels before Napoléon during his coronation at Notre Dame.
1. Joséphine de
Beauharnais, now a
widow, became the
mistress of several
leading political figures,
including Paul François
Jean Nicolas Barras.
2. In 1795, she met General
Napoléon Bonaparte, six
years her junior, and
became his mistress.
3. In a letter to her in
December, he wrote, "I
awake full of you. Your
image and the memory of
last night‘s intoxicating
pleasures has left no rest
to my senses.―
4. In January 1796,
Napoléon Bonaparte
proposed to her and they
married on 9 March.
David had been an admirer of Napoleon from
their first meeting, struck by the then-General
Bonaparte's classical features.
• Requesting a sitting from the busy and impatient
general, David was able to sketch Napoleon in
1797.
• Napoleon had high esteem for David, and asked
him to accompany him to Egypt in 1798, but David
refused, claiming he was too old for adventuring
and sending instead his student, Antoine-Jean
Gros.
• After Napoleon's successful coup d'état in 1799, as
First Consul he commissioned David to
commemorate his daring crossing of the Alps.
• The crossing of the St. Bernard Pass had allowed
the French to surprise the Austrian army and win
victory at the Battle of Marengo on 14 June 1800.
• Although Napoleon had crossed the Alps on a
mule, he requested that he be portrayed "calm
upon a fiery steed".
• David complied with Napoleon Crossing the Saint-
Bernard. After the proclamation of the Empire in
1804, David became the official court painter of the
regime

Study by David of Napoleon

No man has been made to
look more heroic
Totally unrealistic but
stunningly effective
memorial to his greatest
exploit
Crossing the St Bernard

Napoleon had seen the

Sabines painting and
remarked that it ‗Did not look
like a real battle‘

When he asked David the

subject of his next painting,
David said
Leonidas at Thermopylae
‗Tant pis‘ said Napoleon ‗You
are mistaken, David, to
waste time on the defeated‘
• Delaroche's Napoleon is cold
and downcast, whereas
David's wears a pristine
uniform, and is idealized as a
hero. Delaroche was
commissioned to paint a realistic
portrait; the style of which was
emerging at the time.
• While the painting largely
represented—and was one of the
pioneers of—an emerging style,
the work was criticised by several
authorities on the subject.
• The reasons for this varied from
Delaroche's depiction of the
scene to a general disapproval of
Delaroche himself. Many of those
who were in the latter state of
mind felt that Delaroche was
trying to match the genius of
Napoleon in some way, and had
failed miserably in doing so
Leonidas at Thermopylae
Leonidas at Thermopylae
1. Interesting subject what exactly was David saying about the nobility of defeat?
2. But it certainly lacks the conviction and power of previous paintings
3. Perhaps the excuse of being a subject to the new emperor and the demands of a social
calendar are distracting to the purity of the artistic intentions
4. Maybe David's experiences had left him in a quandary about what he truly accepts to be
truth and there certainly seems to be something missing in this painting
David's Intentions are preserved in
an account to an engraver who was
given instructions by David.
1. They are literary and moral
2. He describes at length the thoughts
passing through the hero‘s mind
3. It follows the classic doctrine that a
painting should be like a heroic poem
4. The figure of Leonidas is a failure
chosen from a collection of ideal
figures taken from Winckelmann, the
other figures are all derived from
Antique examples
5. Leonidas is another extreme example
of Classic generalisation it would
appear in the over-refinement of the
ideal David has lost his connection to
the real world.
6. Perhaps the line of reason that
Winckelmann engendered had run its
course and was now becoming as
vapid and insipid as anything done by
Mengs
He did a commission of the
current Pope of the day Pius
VII
1. who had presided over the
coronation of Napoleon
2. He is represented by David
in the coronation of
Josephine painting and from
this he may have received a
request to do an
independent study
3. The Pope is said to have
expressed some concern
about being painted by
4. ‗An executioner of Kings‘
and could easily make ‗a
bonfire of a poor Pope of
papier mache‘
5. But David was apparently
delighted. ‗ I will have
painted an emperor and now,
at last, a Pope‘.
After the restoration, David was
exiled to Brussels
1. It would seem his ideals had
collapsed – twice it could be
said with the overthrow of the
French aristocracy, followed by
the coup d'état of Napoleon
and now after much
bloodletting, the monarchy was
back
2. There was still one redeeming
factor in his work
3. This was visible in a portrait of
Madam Tangry and her
daughters and in this he has
captured some of the Classical
integrity of previous decades
4. What seems to be true to his
work is when confronted with
reality, and within this kind of
observation from life he is able
to project all those Roman
virtues that his work embodied
previously.
His last picture ‗Mars
disarmed by Venus‘ -
1824
1. It is a sad testament to an artist who has
capitulated from a noble and determined
young man on a quest of truth and nobility
who has since lost his way and returned to
outward shell of his classical training
2. The forms of the poses are derived from two
sources:
1. His love of Ballet – the three graces
are stolen from old Ballet prints. The
Venus is a portrait of Mademoiselle
Leseuer, the prima ballerina of the
Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels
2. The other source are the kind of
mural study one would discover on
the walls of the unearthed houses of
Pompeii and Herculaneum. But the
virtue so evident in the Horatii has
been lost
3. The conflict between masculine and
feminine has also been lost
4. The projection of David‘s own internal
struggle between the masculine and
feminine principles is no longer his pursuit
The decline of David‘s style is a symptom of the larger
problem
1. This was the general decline of the ideals and principles of
Winckelmann‘s Classic ideals in general
2. They somehow did not fit comfortably within a revolutionary age that
was fare better suited to the tempestuous nature of revolution which
by definition requires change and not a static social order that
depends on control.
3. What is an interesting observation is how the language of high art
formally used to educated and inspire the adherents of the Church and
its ideas was then subordinated to the high ideals of the revolutionary
minded David to fuel the imagination of the French Revolution
4. This in turn was used to portray the absolutism of Napoleon the
Emperor and proves that Classic art can be put to the service of any
philosophic cause that requires the subjugation and adherence of the
populace in general.
5. It would appear that the years following David Classicism certainly did
not die out but became the domain of the connoisseur
6. The highly specialised style of neo –classicism had been adopted by a
man of genius
7. Ingres
Antoine-Jean Gros (16
March 1771 – 25 June
1835)
1. Born in Paris, Gros began to learn
to draw at the age of six from his
father, who was a miniature
painter, and showed himself as a
gifted artist.
2. 1785 Gros entered the studio of
Jacques-Louis David.

3. Competed (unsuccessfully) in
1792 for the grand prix.
4. About this time, however, on the
recommendation of the École des
Beaux Arts, he was employed on
the execution of portraits of the
members of the National
Convention.
5. Disturbed by the development of
the Revolution, Gros left France in
1793 for Italy.

Portrait of Baron Antoine Jean Gros Aged 20 by

Francois Pascal Simon Baron Gerard
1. In It he met Joséphine de Beauharnais
whilst in Genoa
2. He followed her to Milan, where he was
well received by her husband, Napoleon
Bonaparte.
3. On 15 November 1796, Gros was present
with the army near Arcola when
Bonaparte planted the French tricolor on
the bridge.
4. Gros seized on this incident,
5. Bonaparte at once gave him the post of
inspecteur aux revues, which enabled
him to follow the army, and in 1797
nominated him on the commission
charged to select the spoils which
should enrich the Louvre.

1801 Antoine-Jean Gros - Bonaparte on the Bridge at Arcole

Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Stricken in Jaffa – 1804
1. This scene depicts the courage of General
Bonaparte
2. visiting plague-stricken soldiers in Jaffa, Syria,
in 1799. Napoleon is touching one of the plague
victims, as Christ did a leper.
3. This huge canvas, hugely acclaimed at the 1804
Salon, was the first masterpiece of Napoleonic
painting.
4. Although the heroic nudes recall the work
David, the warm colors, chiaroscuro, and
oriental decor foreshadow Romantic painting.
5. The scene took place in March 1799 during the
Syrian campaign. Bonaparte, in a shaft of
daylight - ignoring the doctor trying to
dissuade him - touches a sore on one of the
plague victims with his bare hand. One of the
officers watching has a handkerchief over his
mouth.
6. Bonaparte, who had become First Consul,
wanted it clear himself from the accusations of
the British press, who had alleged that he had
wanted to execute the plague-stricken during
his retreat to Cairo.
7. The painting, presented at the 1804 Salon
shortly before his coronation - a particularly
opportune moment for Bonaparte
Followed by The Battle of Aboukir, 1806

was Napoleon Bonaparte's decisive victory over Seid Mustafa Pasha's Ottoman army on 25
July 1799 during the French invasion of Egypt (1798).
Napoleon the emperor drew the painters of the time away from classical subjects and had them paint
contemporary battles and imperial pomp instead, with himself as the heroic center of attention. Gros
subsequently portrayed Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau 1808 which forms the third of this particular
series.
The painting greatly influenced the painters of the next generation, Géricault and Delacroix, notably when
the latter painted The Massacre at Chios
Delacroix's painting of the
massacre at Chios
1. Shows sick, dying Greek
civilians about to be
slaughtered by the Turks.
2. One of several paintings he
made of this contemporary
event, it expresses sympathy
for the Greek cause in their
war of independence against
the Turks, a popular sentiment
at the time for the French
people.
3. Delacroix was quickly
recognized as a leading
painter in the new Romantic
style, and the picture was
bought by the state.
4. His depiction of suffering was
controversial however, as
there was no glorious event
taking place, no patriots
raising their swords in valour
as in David's Oath of the
Horatii, only a disaster.
5. Many critics deplored the
painting's despairing tone; the
artist Antoine-Jean Gros called
it "a massacre of art"
In 1810, his "Madrid" and "Napoleon at the Pyramids" (Versailles) show that his
star had deserted him. His Francis I and Charles V, 1812 (Louvre), had
considerable success

Again citing Britannica, "Exasperated by criticism and the consciousness of failure, Gros
sought refuge in the grosser pleasures of life." On 25 June 1835 he was found drowned on
the shores of the Seine at Meudon, near Sèvres. From a paper which he had placed in his
hat it became known that "tired of life, and betrayed by last faculties which rendered it
bearable, he had resolved to end it."
Hippolyte Delaroche (17 July
1797 – 4 November 1856),
commonly known as Paul
Delaroche
• Delaroche was born into a
wealthy family and was
trained by Antoine-Jean,
Baron Gros.
• he first Delaroche picture
exhibited was the large
Josabeth saving Joas
(1822).
• This exhibition led to his
acquaintance with
Théodore Géricault and
Eugène Delacroix, with
whom he became friends.
• The three of them formed
the core of a large group
of Parisian historical
painters.
Delaroche – Napoleon 1845
1. In 1837 Delaroche received the commission for the great picture, 27 metres
(88.5 ft) long, in the hemicycle of the award theatre of the École des Beaux
Arts. The commission came from the Ecole's architect, Felix Duban. The
painting represents seventy-five great artists of all ages, in conversation,
assembled in groups on either hand of a central elevation of white marble
steps, on the topmost of which are three thrones filled by the creators of
the Parthenon: architect Phidias, sculptor Ictinus, and painter Apelles,
symbolizing the unity of these arts.
2. To supply the female element in this vast composition he introduced the
genii or muses, who symbolize or reign over the arts, leaning against the
balustrade of the steps, depicted as idealized female figures.