"Oath of the Horatii" (1784) by Jacques-Louis David

 "Oath of the Horatii" (1784) by Jacques-Louis David

Written by Dipanjan Kundu

Jacques Louis David drew this painting, christened "Oath of the Horatii" in 1784 and it was exhibited in the following year. This painting instituted a new style in art called Neoclassicism. Previously, the prevailing parameter in France was the Rococo style, as formulated by Boucher and Fragonard. The style, that appealed to the aristocracy, had become formulaic. Critics like Diderot were propounding an art that could bolster virtuous demeanour. During the Enlightenment period, the philosophers like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot posset the idea that the rational should supercede traditional and spiritual entities. During this period, both the monarchy and episcopal institutions were immensely mighty and these Enlightenment philosophers were countering such dominant ideologies. This painting teems with an anecdote from the ancient Roman history. The early Roman state is at war with the neighbouring city of Alba. They decide to send three brothers from each side to battle it out. Whoever would survive would be proclaimed as victorious. The Romans chose the Horatii, while Alba chooses the Curatii. But the imbroglio lies in the intermarriages between these two families. In this painting, we perceive the father of the Horatii holding swords aloft in front of his three sons. They are taking an oath of fighting intrepidly to martyrdom. On the right, three women and two children are mourning, anticipating the Nemesis. There is a discord as to the identity of the woman in blue apron in the back. The two foregrounded women are the points of relation between the two warring families. One of them is a Curatii sister, married to a Horatii brother. And the other one is a Horatii by birth, but betrothed to a Curatii brother. David advertently limns the women appear curvilinear and passive, even their eyes not opening. Thus, he testifies a concurrent misogynist philosophy of Rousseau, who propounds that women could not be genuine citizens, as they are solely concerned with their personal and familial spaces, ignoring civic responsibility. If you notice closely, the contrast David depicted showcases the prevailing attitude about women. While the female bodies are limp and brokenhearted, the male figures are rigid, upright, tall, strong, and angular. There is a sense of purpose in their hands upheld in unison, whereas the women are illustrated as basket-case victims of circumstances. The preoccupation with the male anatomy and musculature and strength derives from the classical Greco-Roman art. The whole scene is set within a stone structure with rounded Roman arches, Tuscan columns, and a pavement that create a geometric stage. And if we follow the orthogonal lines created by that pavement, we end at a vanishing point, right where the father's hand clasps the swords. The sense of integrity and patriotic fervour imbued in the painting informed the French revolutionaries with an ideal of sacrifice.