Artist Jacques Louis David

The age itself, however, must be looked upon as a product of the Enlightenment, in which more and more of both the intellectual and common classes were debating the manner by which people should exist within the world system itself. The Frenchman Rousseau proclaimed that "everything depended fundamentally on politics," yet failed to consider that before political paradigms could exists, the phenomenology within the social and artistic life of the country must take primacy.1

In this sense, it is easy to place various social and artistic activities within the very realm of the political  not simply as interpreters of the Enlightenment and resulting revolutionary spirit, but clearly as social indicators and

1 See the Introductory section of Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution, (Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1984), 17. interpretations of tho

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Moreover, it was this very gift of image and emotionality that gave David credibility with the new revolutionary government, and allowed him to expand his gifts to one of the highest forms of artistic propaganda in the era. It was with David that success in combining art and politics became exceptional. While other artists of the time were painting more traditional subjects, landscapes, and the like, David made sure that he did not ignore the substantial politicality of the era. Still, "less than onetenth of the ____________________ 5 Hunt, 103. paintings exhibited in the official salons between 1789 and 1799 can be classified as explicitly political."6 For our purposes here, we will constrain ourselves to three of David's more famous paintings, "The Oath of the Horatii" (1784), "The Death of Marat" (1993), and "A Woman of the Revolution" (1795). "The Oath of the Horatii" reflects David's politicality in that it is a grand picture marking both noble and grand sentiments. It is a story from ancient Rome, in which "the leaders of the Roman and Alban armies, poised for battle, decided to resolve their conflicts in triple combat among three representative from each side. The Roman choice fell on the three Horatius bro
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Brace Jovanovich, Roman Alban, Woman Revolution, Frenchman Rousseau, David David, Royal Academy, France David, Renaissance Christ, California Press, David's Marat, french revolution, york alfred knopf, alfred knopf, york alfred, revolutionary government, la croix, modern world, de la croix, social artistic, de la, politics culture class, ii york, revolution london penguin, richard tansey, penguin press 1972,
Approximate Word count = 1480
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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