The French Revolution, marked by violence perpetrated against political opponents by those in power, left very few alive and free who fell out of favor. Jacques-Louis David was one of those few. The Neoclassical painter completed commissions for players on all sides of the French Revolution: the unfortunately timed and eventually guillotined Louis XVI, the Republican government that emerged in the early days of the Revolution, and the ensuing President-turned-Emperor Napoleon I. This is nothing short of remarkable, considering David's political journey. Beginning his career more apolitical, David focused on classical subject matter and virtuous themes in his paintings which were commissioned by Louis XVI for Paris' Salons. As revolutionary fervor began to foment, David's focus seemed to shift to applying those classical themes to the present day. He first contributed indirectly (implicit principles in paintings) and then directly (membership in the Jacobin party, painting pro-Revolution art, and more) to the Revolutionary cause. When close friend and Radical leader Robespierre was deposed and executed, David was imprisoned. Instead of being left to rot in a cell with any other Radicals who had escaped the guillotine, David would be handpicked by Napoleon to be his "First Painter," going on to paint propaganda pieces for the new leader of France. This curation does not seek to explain how this miracle was possible, but rather to highlight it by chronicling the works of David that specifically influenced the political dynamics of Revolutionary France.
Our first work of David’s was commissioned by King Louis XVI for the 1785 Salon of Paris. Here, David depicts the virtuous theme of personal sacrifice for a higher cause, as the soldiers on the left-hand side are taking an oath to fight another trio of brothers on behalf of Rome. Even if the pictured brothers manage victory, it would still mean sorrow for the family as the mourning women on the left side attest. One of them is a daughter of the enemy combatants, and another is engaged to one. Despite this, the Roman brothers persist, valuing their service to Rome above all else. The strength of their virtue is celebrated through rigid geometric poses which contrast with the soft, doubled over poses of the emotional women. The icon of the brothers’ outstretched arms will be repeated in the other curated works as a sign of noble commitment.
Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates, 1787, oil on canvas (The Met: 31.45).
Another painting that though not explicitly political, still had strong implications for the time. Its commissioners, the Trudaine de Montigny brothers, were advocates for a more open public discourse of political matters and sympathetic to revolutionary ideals–even though the Revolution had not yet occurred. In Death of Socrates, David depicts the titular character in his last moments after being sentenced to death for corrupting the youth of Athens. Given the chance to repent, the philosopher refuses, showing how strongly committed to his principles he is. He won’t even allow this inconvenience to stop him from teaching his students, giving them one final lesson while nonchalantly reaching for the cup of hemlock poison. Socrates is celebrated as a martyr willing to die for his ideals, a notion the French public would embrace in two short years with the outbreak of the French Revolution.
Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Tennis Court, 1791, Pen and brown and black ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white, over black chalk, with two irregularly shaped fragments of paper affixed to the sheet (The Louvre).
With the onset of the Revolution came the overthrow of the monarchy and establishment of a new Republican government. David was commissioned by a party within this new political body–the Jacobins–to make a piece celebrating this transition. Never finished as a painting, this drawing depicts the moment that the delegates of the 1789 Estates General pledged not to leave until a new Constitution had been agreed upon. Their commitment, demonstrated visually by more outstretched arms, was strong enough to value a free France over their own condition. This work marked David’s shift from focusing on classical subject matter to that of his current times.
Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Marat, 1793, oil on canvas (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels).
One radical figure and close friend of David was Jean-Paul Marat, a writer and propagandist fervently in favor of the Revolution. When Marat was assassinated in his own bathtub–to which he was often bound due to a skin condition–David painted this work as a tribute to his fallen friend. Unlike Socrates or Horatii, this is an emotional post-death scene where our subject is not portrayed in noble strength, but in limp defeat. Whereas the tragedy had not yet occurred in the previous works, now we see death’s aftermath. Though limp, Marat’s outstretched arm still clings to his quill, suggesting that, like with Socrates’ defiant final lesson, death was a mere impediment to their higher purposes. David is, in effect, martyring the figure of Marat.
Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps or Bonaparte at the St Bernard Pass, 1800-1, oil on canvas (Chateau de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison, France).
Painted after Napoleon’s rise to power but before France would become an Empire, Napoleon Crossing the Alps majestically depicts the new First Consul in the midst of his military conquests–specifically France’s victorious campaign into Austria. This work glorifies its namesake as the hero the French nation needed to become a great power again. Napoleon cuts a stern and unfazed figure atop his bucking horse, with his blue and red regalia framed by mountains and clouds of grey. Extending his right arm upwards, he points toward some invisible summit, beckoning the viewer–and arguably his country as well–to follow him in his ascension. Like David’s other works highlighted here, this is not a snapshot but a highly organized composition with a clear political undertone.
Jacques-Louis David, The Distribution of the Eagle Standards, 1810, oil on canvas (Chateau de Versailles).
In 1804 Napoleon would name himself Emperor and David his First Painter. As such, the artist began work on grand canvases of coronation. One such work was his Distribution of the Eagle Standards, a depiction of a ceremony where the military pledges their fealty and support to the new Emperor. In turn, Napoleon blesses them, as shown through his outstretched arm. In this work of David’s, the noble commitment behind that iconic action is to the state and its military might. The soldiers are willing to serve and sacrifice for their leader, who now is the singular embodiment of virtue following the tumultuous Revolution. Where once David painted principles into tragedy, he now paints them into triumph.
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