The French Revolution and Jacques Louis David

Jacques Louis David was a french painter who lived from 1748 until 1825.

David was an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Maximilien Robespierre (one of the best known and most influential of the Revolution, highly active during the "Reign of Terror." Known as the Incorruptible or Bloodthirsty dictator, he was executed by Guillotine in 1794.)

David was the dictator of the arts under the French Republic but was imprisoned after the fall of Robespierre. He aligned him self with the regime of Napoleon the first after that.

Brutus - JL David 1789

David carried his moral and pictorial quest to its farthest limit in this painting. Painted the year the revolution began, 1789, it was valued for its political content. David contrasted the strict morality of the Roman Republics first defender, sacrificing his sons for his country, to the moral flabbiness of Louis XVI who was a notoriously bad decision maker.

Although it was due to Louis XIV's excessive spending that the government was in financial crisis, Louis XVI rejected any financial advice to raise taxes and decided to take out international loans instead. This eventually lead to bankruptcy.

The Marquise D'Orvilliers - JL David 1790

This is a painting commission from David by one of the Great Lords of the Ancien Regime. The woman in the painting is quite plain looking as is the painting.

"She seems lost in a daydream, passively allowing her portrait to be painted. The features of her round face are not unusual and life itself seems lost in somenelance - a life free of curiousity and complexes." - Luc De Nanteuil - David, Thames and Hudson Publishing

I think this quote above is an insight into David's opinions of the ruling class at that time. We know he was a supporter of the revolution. While this painting is peaceful and serene and the woman is smiling, it shows her in plain environment with little interest. I might be allowing my own opinions to come through here, but I assume David would have percieved as boring and a waste of the countrys money. Royals werent required to pay taxes.

The Tennis Court Oath - JL David 1791

"It was on June 20, 1789, at Versailles, that the members of the third estate by members of the clergy, met in the hall of the Jeu de Paume. It was there that, with only one exception, they all took an oath pledging "never to be seperated and to meet wherever circumstances so require, until the constitution of the Kingdom is established firmly on solid foundations."

"On June 27, He (the king) ordered the nobility and the clergy to join the Third Estate. The States-General ceased to exist and on July 9, the body of deputies became the Constituent Assembly. The Revolution had begun." - Luc De Nanteuil - David, Thames and Hudson Publishing

The Club des Jacobins, in October 1790, invited "the creator of Brutus and Horatii to, this heroic Frenchman who's genius foreshadowed the revolution" to create this painting. David did this drawing but didn't finish the painting (he gave up in 1801 as Napoleon 1 was then ruling.)

Robespierre is presant in this drawing slightly right of centre, pressing his hands to his chest with emotion. To David, Robespierre symbolised revolutionary purity and passion. The clergy who have just joined the third estate (what we would now consider lower middle class) are in the front hugging. On the left are reprasentatives of the people and the National Guard, they express popular support and enthusiasm. The theatrical people on the balconies are there to show the massive diversity of attitudes, but the majority convey the spontanaity and unanimity of the oath. The curtains are blown by a huge gust of wind and if you look closer a lightning bolt is striking Versailles.

The Accomplice of Terror

David was president of the Club des Jacobins in June 1973. He was appointed to the committee of General Security. During this period he would counter-sign with his colleagues those arrest warrants which, in the majority of cases, would lead the arrested individuals to the scaffold. David signed nearly three hundred warrents for the apprehension of suspects. Many of which were his former patrons. One of which was the Duke d'Orleans who had also voted for the execution of the king.

Also, not a single artist was sentenced to death and David also sometimes intervened to assist the flight of suspects such as General Seriziat, a relative of his brother in law.

David argued in his defense after this period that his functions prohibited him from taking any personal measures.

Marie Antoinette Brought to Execution - JL David 1793

"This drawing is startlingly true to life but there is not the slightest trace of emotion in its execution." Luc De Nanteuill - David, Thames and Hudson

Davids generally nasty conduct during the "reign of terror" lead his wife to divorce him. He is recorded saying in an emotional outburst to Robespierre in 1794 "My freind, if you drink the hemlock I will drink with you. " He did not however attend the convention for Robespierres overflow excusing himself saying he was ill.

On August second, the convention ordered Davids arrest for his fantacism and ties to Robespierre during the Reign of terror.

He said "If the false virtues of Robespierre misled my patriotism, the error that seduced me was less the effect of the personal feelings that bound me to him, than the result of the universal esteem in which I always saw him held." Implieing that David didnt fully understand why he had been arrested.

After the convention approved a general amnesty for crimes related to the Revolution in 1795, David regained his full freedom and returned to Paris. After this he took to teaching students, promoting their individuality and independance as artists.

The Death of Marat - JL David, 1793

The Reign of Terror or Terrible Year. Marat was the editor in chief of L'Ami du Peuple. He was a fiery orate and violent man. Only July 13, 1793, a young Royalist called Charlotte Corday managed by a clever subterfuge, to gain access to his apartment. When Marat agreed to recieve her she stabbed him in his bathtub where he had to sit hour after hour treating the disfiguring skin disease from which he suffered.

This is an idealised image which is vaguely reminiscent of the "descent from the cross." David saw Marat as a model of antique virtue and the decomposed state of the body didnt allow David to paint a lifelike picture of Marat so the finished piece makes him look alot younger and less affected than he would have been.

Source of Research

David, Luc De Nanteuil, Thames and Hudson Publishing 1990