Death Of Marat

In 19th century France, the Neoclassical art style arose, influenced by the classical artistic style of Greco-Roman society. Around this time, France encountered many political, social and economic changes brought up mostly by the lower class French citizens. Jacques-Louis David was a highly influential Neoclassical artist during this time. Commissioned by both Nobles and lower class citizens of France, he created artworks such as the Oath of the Horatii (image 1), the Death of Marat (image 2), and Napoleon Crossing the Alps (image 3). David's art represented the ideas of thinkers of that time rather than just the ideals of that time. The purpose of David's art was to gain the support of French citizens through artistic propaganda in order

On his reading, Nudity a la Grecque in 1799, ___________ explains the controversy of one of the most famous paintings of the Neo-classical artist, Jacques-Louis David, the Intervention of the Sabines (1799). This beautiful and controversial painting was characterized by the juxtaposition of male and female nude figures, its impact within women fashion and their power of intervention on society, as well as the David’s intent to represent on his paintings the social and political transformations in France during that time.

Fourth, as interpreted by Ray (2006), the shape and posture of the bodies express protest while the flaming buildings and crumbled walls reflect destructive power of civil war. The newspaper background is the means by how the painted knew the massacre. Both Berger (1980) and Chipp (1988) cited by Ray (2006), believe that the broken sword in the painting mean defeats of the people.

This paintings powerful message can clearly be seen to the viewer, especially culturally when we see the torn up Constitution of the United States in the background, representing a “free-for-all” on this day as our American beliefs did not matter to the terrorists. We also see the diversity between the three suffering women in handcuffs, showing that this tragedy hit everyone, but we were all bound together as Americans. The visual claims that this event truly was horrific and shows the absolute loss of innocence throughout our nation on this one day. The hands of the men especially show the suffering and anguish our nation felt, as they are deformed, projecting their pain onto the viewer. This work specifically reflects a historical moment in American history in that it depicts the events of September 11th. However, it also shows the future that is to come with the old man who survived passing the information of these events onto the young innocently blindfolded girl on the bottom right. Clearly, this piece is superficial in the sense where it comments on one event, but it also goes deeper, showing the aftermath and actions to come for the American

The purpose of this assignment is to present a brief yet comprehensive formal analysis of the work in question, namely, Joos van Cleve’s Lucretia. The painting was completed ca. 1525 by the Flemish artist most likely in Antwerp, where he was highly active from about 1511 until his death in 1540. The painting is oil on panel (75.9 x 60.6 cm) and is exemplary of the early Baroque period. The work depicts at the broadest level the suicide of the early Roman historical figure, Lucretia, following her rape c. 510 BC by Sextus Tarquinius, son of the last Roman king. The incident bears historical significance as it marks rising popular dissatisfaction of the Roman people with the monarchy, and the transition from the Roman Kingdom to the Roman Republic,

Claude Vignon’s work called David with the Head of Goliath, is an interpretation of the artist Caravaggio’s original masterpiece, which shows art’s familiar paradigm, every painter paints himself. His motivation for creating this piece was from visiting rome in 1610, he was influenced by Caravaggism, which was art inspired in the style of Caravaggio. “Some art historians regard him as a precursor of Rembrandt.” Painted circa 1620-1623, it is an oil on canvas, made in Paris, France, 133.7 cm x 98 cm (52 5/8 in. x 38 9/16 in.). “Vignon was a French painter, printmaker and illustrator, and, in 1623, was one of the most respected, productive, and successful artists in France, in which his patrons were king Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu.” He was born into a wealthy family and started art lessons when he was a young boy. A theme could be religious rebellion against others who were seen as powerful such as Goliath, and were not fit to be in power.

Another significant similarity between Brutus and Corday was their chosen murder weapon. As portrayed in the painting with the knife laying on the floor it is inferred that that was what Corday used to kill Marat (David). David also painted a stab wound on the body of Marat to show where exactly the fatal injury was inflicted (David). Both images give an impression of how the murder took

To demonstrate, The London Times newspaper reveals the horrible, inhumane side of the Revolution as they describe the process of the guillotine executions in her report on the burial of Jean-Paul Marat and the execution of his killer, Charlotte Corday. The newspaper describes the executioner as an “inhumane monster” which strongly conveys a tone of resentment and shock towards what the Revolution is as a whole, therefore opposing the policies of the Revolution (Doc. 1). It is understandable that there would be a horrific description of the executions since the report on the burial and execution occurred during the year 1793, the year where widespread executions began to take place. It is also important to note that during 1793-1795, the number of executions began to rapidly increase as time went by. The Law of 22 Prairial, a law introduced in 1794 that permitted the revolutionary tribunal to convict suspects without having substantial evidence, was also a major factor in increasing the amount of executions which in turn created a growing animosity towards the new policies of the Revolution (The End of Terror, p.619). In addition to The London Times newspaper’s description of the Revolution, Louis-Marie Fréron describes the Revolution with terrifying imagery and reveals that no one is safe from the Revolution,

In 1560, Arnaud du Tilh - the imposter who posed as Martin Guerre - was hanged, with his body burned after his death. Today, execution is a controversial issue, and mediaeval and early modern executions (especially public executions) are viewed through the lens of enlightenment rationalism. However, this is not how public execution was always seen. When studying history, it is important that the historian does not view history through the lens of their own time, but instead the lens of the time they are viewing. This is one of the aims of studying microhistory - to provide the lens through which to observe a place and time. This is how I shall endeavour to use the fascinating case of the faux Martin Guerre - as a lens through which to view the attitudes, methods and reasoning behind public executions, including the execution that claimed the life of Arnaud du Tilh. It was the attitudes towards and legal philosophy of the time towards crime and punishment that led to Arnaud du Tilh’s sentence, so the fundamental question that this essay seeks to answer is why Arnaud was given the sentence that he was. Execution as an institution was not an extension of the state, as it is often seen today, but was instead an extension of the community that was seen as a normal part of the ‘divine order’. Arnaud du Tilh was executed by hanging and then burned due to the specific Christian and folk beliefs and symbolism surround methods of execution, and the execution was public not as a

Revenge can be analyzed, as it becomes the exhibited behavior of the Widow resulting from a number of causes. First cause is the harm done to her family; second cause is the Widow’s perception of violence during that time; and the third cause is her aggression toward the killer of her son. The first cause of her revenge is the most obvious reason why she avenged the death of her son, and this is because the killer caused pain to her family. Any mother would be committing the act especially that her son was the only company she has. The second cause pertains to the Widow’s perception of revenge during that time, and because at the time, wars and feuds were still evident in the French society, bloodshed for the Widow is not something to be scared of, given any means. This story was only successful in showing to its readers how the society thinks of death during those times, which can be achieved through any means, by which losing one’s life was not something to be thought of carefully. This just proves that during that time, morality was not given high regard as it is now. Death by any means can be accomplished by anybody, regardless of age, gender, and status in society. The third cause of the Widow’s behavior is her aggression toward the killer of her son, which was not literally shown or described in the story, but was evident based on

French Romanticism developed relatively late because of Neoclassicism being rooted in French art and especially in the society’s structure. Eugène Delacroix’s painting Liberty Leading the People depicts the July Revolution of 1830. Parisian coup d'état resulted in Charles X dethroning and replacement with Louis-Phillipe, the “citizen-king.” Although the painting is historical, it is full of contrasting human emotion, a fundamental characteristic of French Romanticism. In the foreground despair is represented by human death of both sides of the battle. In the central figure, Liberty, an allegorical symbol of freedom, shows grand heroism. Delacroix’s use of brilliant and shocking primary colors opposes classicism’s use of color as subordinate and of subtle modulation. The Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène

Charlotte Corday was not against Revolution in general, but she was against the violent element represented by Jacobins. Charlotte is believed to be a big sympathizer of the Girondist fraction that sent Louis XVI to the guillotine earlier of that year. The power of the Girondists was overthrown in June 2, 1793 when 80,000 citizens surrounded convention and demanded their arrest. Marat was an instrumental person that influenced the downfall of the Girondists and was a big proposer of a radical elimination of this party and their supporter. Marat once said that it is necessary to executed hundreds of thousands of people for good of the republic. His publishing was full of hatred that initiated an outburst of a mob violence. The violence spreads out from Paris to the provinces. After the overthrowing the Girondists, they were proscribed, hunted down, and arrested. Charlotte Corday who seen the growing violence, came to conclusion that only one person is responsible for the chaos, and with his elimination, the peace will return.

Alexandre Dumas’s novels and in particular The Three Musketeers are so great for his ability to mix fact with fiction. As a historical novel, The Three Musketeers bases its story around some major characters and events of 17th century, French history. Cardinal Richelieu, Anne of Austria, and other important characters really lived and acted the way they do in the novel. In fact, the historical basis of Dumas's story extends all the way to his initial idea for the novel, even to the Musketeers and d’Artagnan themselves.(history 1)

David was a supporter of the French Revolution and this may be his political influence on the painting even though Napoleon was a son of the Revolution as well.

Not only did David want to do this but his artistic viewpoints wanted him to reflect the use of propaganda to others through art in the Neoclassical era. In other words, he wanted to depict through the painting how politics during the French Revolution were taken sternly and had serious repercussions in a sort of misleading way. In the same way, if you did not fit into the rest of society and you stood out you were labeled as a target. As we see Marat was murdered by Corday who was seen as his political enemy. In the meantime, through the style of David’s painting we see the use of iconography or “the study or description of images and symbols” . Here in this painting of The Death of Marat we see the main image (i.e. Marat) being used as more than just the centerpiece of the work rather, the symbol of the work which means there is more to this work than just The Death of Marat. Strangely enough, we can see the use of iconography when comparing The Death of Marat to an almost political Christ of his people. Meaning that Marat was killed for his religious beliefs/political beliefs and died for his people as that of Christ did with his religious beliefs. Incidentally, we can say that “David’s clear sympathies for Marat and his transformation of the politician into a timeless martyr” or someone who sacrifices their life for not believing in Marat’s case the political beliefs of the others in