Jacques-Louis David

Oath of the Horatii, Death of Marat — painter of revolution

The painter of the French Revolution and Napoleon's court artist. The Oath of the Horatii — stern, geometric, morally absolute — defined Neoclassical painting and became the visual language of republican virtue. The Death of Marat is political martyrdom's most powerful image.

Key works

• Oath of the Horatii1784— Neoclassical manifesto — duty over feeling
  Louvre, Paris
• Death of Marat1793— Revolutionary martyrdom — the secular pieta
  Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
• Napoleon Crossing the Alps1801— Propaganda as art — the emperor as hero
  Chateau de Malmaison, Paris (original); Belvedere, Vienna; Versailles (versions)

Connections

External