Oath Of The Horatii Summary

I Pledge Allegiance, by Chris Lynch, is a book about the troubles a young teen named Morris goes through when he and his three life long best friends from Boston, Rudi, Ivan, and Beck find out that Rudi is being drafted into the military to go and fight in Vietnam. Once the Morris, Ivan, Beck, and Rudi find out that one of them is being drafted they all make a pledge to join the military and do whatever it takes to protect each other and keep each other safe.

The two pieces being compared are Jacques-Louis David, Death of Socrates, 1878 and Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Samson Captured by the Philistines. The first piece was painted during the Neoclassicism era, and the second was painted during the Baroque era. Though the two paintings come from different styles of art, they both represent an important figure of that time frame seemingly getting their power stripped from them.

It acted as a connection piece to pull Catholics back to their faith. They could place themselves in David’s place and connect with the Church because of his relatable human characteristics. A stylistic change towards the more emotionally intense sculptures and artwork of the time period, was known as “Baroque.” Previous statues had been still, lifeless, and predominately frontal pictures. “David” makes the viewer walk around it, and see it from all angles possible, which creates the feeling of being a spectator, caught in the middle of the conflict being represented. He even enters the boundaries of life by stepping across the platform. For realistic value, Bernini also portrays David in ways that would conform to the contemporary conventions about how a military figure would appear.

To truly understand what is relevant about this story of the Horatii and this painting of David in relation to the French Revolution, it is important to make a distinction between the things that are relevant for this research and what is not. The renaissance of the Antiquity sort of means the same as the downfall of the Ancien Regime. Neoclassicism is connected to reality and the values of the Antiquity, wherein the Ancien Regime is connect to the beauty and plentifulness of the rococo style. That rococo style is something most monarchies could identify with.(Kunstkennis.nl)

The Chansons de Geste are epic poetry from French literature around the time of Charlemagne that myth logically told the stories of paladins, knights, and lords. An illumination from this manuscript called Roland Fealty (attached) shows Roland, a well-known leader of the time pledging his allegiance, or fealty, to Charlemagne as a vassal pledging his allegiance to his lord. Roland and his men have one hand in the air and are depicted as knights with swords on their sides, as is customary of leaders during this time. Charlemagne’s face is full of strength and wisdom as he embodies the characteristics of an ideal leader. The piece is similar to other well-known works from the time such as the Ottonian Otto III enthroned. The transitional piece of the Limbourg brothers October from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry depicts the vassals working in the fields while the castle in the background shows the prevalence of feudalism even in the early 15th century. The statue David by Donatello was patronized by the Medici family and depicts David from the Biblical David and Goliath story in which tiny David kills the giant with only a stone. David was a moral figure for Florence because he represented them earlier during this time in which they were living under threat of invasion by King Ladislaus. The Medici’s chose to patronize another statue of him, perhaps to revive humanism even more. During this time, the Medici family was coming to power in

“David Slaying Goliath” by Peter Paul Rubens is an example of Renaissance art. This painting depicts a well-known Bible story of a young Israelite boy named David who kills the giant, Goliath, with a slingshot, and chops off his head with a sword. Rubens has chosen to illustrate this Bible story at the moment when David is about to hack off Goliath’s head with the giant’s sword. In addition, we see armor-clad soldiers rushing into battle in the background. In “David Slaying Goliath,” Peter Paul Rubens uses color, value, and line to illustrate the dynamism and energy within the painting that makes it look realistic. In addition, these elements contribute to the sense of excitement and anticipation of the event depicted.

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.

The city of Florence has gone through many invaders, illnesses and many other deaths not related to the battlefield. They had survived it all they believed that they had God on their side and have always come out on top, much like the biblical story of David in battle against Goliath. This influenced Florence to take on David as their symbol and used it to portray the success of Florence. Many artists have created sculptures portraying works of David. It has been depicting it in so many different manners, that there is at least one surviving example from each major art periods. Although there are many we will only be focusing on two works of David. First is Donatello’s classically inspired youthful boy depiction of David, and the second is Bernini’s heroic warrior.

Summary: The division between church and state is a gray line that is often crossed and argued about. For example, Gwen Wilde, the author, argues that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance requires people who do not believe in God to recite something they do not necessarily believe in. If a person chose not to say the full Pledge, including to utter the words “under God” they run the risk of being called unpatriotic. The author continually argues that the words “under God” add a religious doctrine that not all Americans believe in.

Bernini's David represents the Baroque time shift in art. The shift towards the baroque art period seemed to have a change within the overall narrative of the sculptures. Prior to Bernini’s version of David there existed David’s sculpted by Donatello and Michelangelo. Donatello’s David was sculpted during the time of humanism, where a large influence came from the ancient Greco-Roman culture. The overall emotion of the sculpture is soft and youthful and creates the image of David after he had beaten Goliath. There really is no distinct emotion within David himself in this sculpture. In the high renaissance period Michelangelo sculpted his version of David. This sculpture began to form some energy which was seen in David’s tensed facial expression,

The first painting - Oath of the Horatii has been painted in Rome in the Neo-Classical style. This paining is referred as one of the best known works of art, which has been produced by this artist of style of eclectic. In the scientific literature, the painting is referred as the representation of the new school of art, which is mainly grounded on the fervent investigation of antique and a returning to classical techniques, used in the timeframe of the late 18th century.

Michelangelo was yet another artist who sculpted David. His reputation as a sculptor was established when he carved his David at the edge of twenty-seven from a single piece of relatively unworkable marble. Unlike the David's of Donatello and Verrocchio, Michelangelo's David is not shown after conquering his enemy. Instead, he is portrayed as a "most beautiful animal preparing to kill-not by savagery and brute force, but by intellect and skill" (Fichner-Rathus 345). Cast over his shoulder is David's sling, and the stone is clutched in his right hand, his veins in chief anticipation of the fight. Michelangelo's David depicts the ideal youth who has just reached manhood and is capable of great physical and intellectual feats, which is part of the

their arms and legs as the brothers stand up vigorously and rigidly; clad in their armor, they are eager to fight. This emphasizes their masculinity and portrays them as powerful heroes (Zucker).Although this painting was exhibited in 1785, four years prior to French Revolution, it already began to inspire allegiance to the imminent revolt, (Zucker). The commoners who came to view the painting grew stronger in their convictions and loyalty to the Revolution because it had kindled “patriotic zeal” (Gardner 852). This was David's goal he successfully achieved, to inspire the French bourgeoisie and peasants to rise to action and support their country in its time of crisis and inevitable change.

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.

ten feet tall. The painting was done by Jacques-Louis David, who was the leading Neoclassical painter in France during the eighteenth century. David rejected the Rococo style that was popular of that time, which was characterized by fantasy and playfulness. David was interested in painting images with antiquity. The Oath of the Horatii has elements of classical Greek and Roman art and architecture. Oath of the Horatii was a political painting that David had comprised to stimulate the publics attention (Fred S. Kleiner 680).