Women, Politics, and Jacque Louie David

   In the restless city of Paris, was a growing sense of discontentment towards the French monarchy. The cries of hunger from children haunted the streets as the royal court and wealthy folk filled their days with senseless pleasures. Caught between two worlds, Jacque Louis David used his paintings to express his political views. During his lifetime, France went through multiple political changes and his artwork reflected that. His impact as a painter stemmed from his social connections that allowed him access to intellectual ideas that would change history.

   It was during the French Revolution that he was most influenced by Greek and Roman mythology as seen in the Oath of the Horatii and the Intervention of the Sabine woman to voice his opinions. Interestingly David uses the role of women to support his artwork through emphasizing society’s expectation of an ideal woman. Four years before the revolution had even started, he had created a painting called the Oath of the Horatii that had women slumped behind the patriarch, symbolizing the weight of war and the amount of emotion that is involved. Throughout the years leading up to the French Revolution, Jacque Louie David emphasized the contrast in emotions between the men and women as they face the same situations, however the women are always supporting the men.   

Jacque Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii, 1786, oil on canvas, from the Toledo Museum of Art  

 This painting depicts Horatius, the father, about to send off his three sons against a rival family, the Curiatii. It became a symbol representing the French Revolution though painted a few years before it began. How David portrays the sisters and the nurse grieving highlights the sacrifice the men are about to make. The women bring attention to the conflict of divided family loyalties since they are connected through multiple marriages. They are slumped due to the weight of the agony, yet have accepted their family’s fate with dignity.  

 Jacque Louis David, the Loves of Paris and Helen, 1788, oil on canvas, from the Louvre

 According to Greek mythology the Trojan War started because Paris had fallen in love with Helen, who was married to Menelaus. His grasp on her arm and the intent look on his face reveals the physical attraction between the two along with the carved columns of Venus in the background. Helen’s position is one modeled after a classical Greek muse, but lowered gaze depicts her hesitance. This painting was in response to the scandalous behavior of Count d’ Artois.  

Jacque Louis David, Portrait of Antoine-Laurent and Marie Anne Lavoisier, 1788, oil on canvas, 1977.10 

Painted during the same time as the Loves of Paris and Helen, this couple in this portrait share many of the same characteristics. Madame Lavoisier is positioned also like a muse with her husband, however she doesn’t avert her eyes unlike Helen. Lavoisier was a wealthy tax farmer who also studied chemistry, which is represented by the gasometer and other instruments seen in the painting. He was part of a liberal intellectual élite where he may have met David. Lavoisier was later beheaded due to his connection with the government.

Jacque Louis David, The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons, 1789, oil on canvas,

from the Louvre

Lucius Junius Brutus help put an end to the Roman monarchy, however his sons tried to bring back the exiled tyrant. He then punished his sons by executing them, which is depicted in the painting. David paints Brutus in the corner stoic and indifferent to his sons’ execution, yet the women are distraught over the turn of events. His composed and unemotional stance was a model for men during the French Revolution, especially since there would be a need for hard decisions to be made. This is another painting representing the conflict of loyalty between the nation or the family, and the difference in how men and women are expected to react. 

Jacque Louis David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799, oil on canvas, from the Louvre

This is the first historical painting David does that has a woman as the focus. The Sabine women rushing out to stop the Romans and the Sabines from killing each other, which differs from his previous historical paintings such as the women in the painting with Brutus. Instead he depicts them as peacemakers, however the women’s actions are not done simply because they want peace. For the Sabine women intervention is their only solution to the resolving divided family loyalties, which is what was expected of French women during the 18^th century. This may have been a painting in response to the Reign of Terror and the chaos that ensued due to unchecked power.