Oath Of The Horatii By Jacques-Louis David

In 1784, a few years before the French revolution, Jacques- Louis David painted the Oath of the Horatii. The painting Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David is about three Horatii brothers saluting three swords held by their father (McCoy, n.d.). Around 669 B.C.E., Rome and Alba Longa were at war, both cities grew tired and decided to have someone represented their city in a fight-to-death battle. The Horatii brothers, the ones in the painting, represented Rome, and Alba Longa selected the Curiatii brothers, both set of brothers were triplets (Britannica, 2012). In this essay, I argue that David’s message is about heroism, courage, and patriotism of the brothers in the painting.
To emphasize his point Jacques-Louis David uses the element
of design: line and form. The first element is line, the lines of Davis painting are everywhere throughout. The concrete tiles on the floor, if you follow the lines between them, the lines will take the viewer’s eyes to the vanishing point, which is the father’s hand holding the swords. The brothers form a triangle with their legs and bodies. The invisible triangle could imply the power the brothers had. The brothers are very assertive in the way they are standing. When you are looking at the brothers, the viewer will follow the brothers’ arms, to the swords. In addition to using line, form is the other element of design he used. David used the method of modeling called Chiaroscuro, this helped him create the 3d forms in the painting. The forms in the painting are in groups, the three brothers are proud, courageous and ready to serve their city, while the women are worried about the families and scared because they know the outcome won’t be good.
Furthermore, David enhances the painting by using principles of design such as movement and repetition. Jacques-Louis David uses movement throughout the entire painting: the floor tiles, the arms of the brothers, the legs of the brothers, the arches, and even the clothes the figures are wearing. David paid attention to the details in the painting. If the viewer examines it closely, they could see all the details in the painting and most of the details create movement, such as the contour lines on the clothes, the muscles on the men, or the little diagonal lines on some of the floor tiles. David didn’t use a lot of repetition but the times he did it is very noticeable. He repeats the arches and the forms in the paintings in groups of three. The stance the men took is a very powerful and strong.
Moreover, David uses many elements and principles of designs to get his message across while also using other aspects to help him. One of the aspects he used to help him was the title, the title helps the viewer understand what is happening inside the painting. Hardly anyone knows the story of the Horatii and Curiatii brothers, so the title Oath of Horatii helps the viewers understand that the Horatii brothers are taking an oath for a battle, which they can understand it’s for a battle because the brothers are wearing armor.
The overall message David wants to give the viewer is the patriotism and courageousness of the Horatii brothers. David’s use of line, form, movement, and repetition helps the viewer to understand his message more clearly. Jacques-Louis David took an event from history and created a painting to show the viewers how courageous the brothers were since they were selected to fight to the death for their city, and did it with pride.