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The French Revolution On Art And Art

Decent Essays
The French Revolution did not affect only on the French economy and politics. It also had a significant and remarked influence on the art during the eighteenth century. It was born due to thoughts and ideas of thinkers and artists, who wanted to enlighten the people during that time, and after that, it affected those artists and their styles. This essay will discuss the effect of the French Revolution on painting and sculpture during that time using some examples to show the connection between the revolution and the artworks.
The French Revolution has an enormous influence on France and the Western world in general. That period suffered from a series of political and economic disturbances in several areas. The Revolution started in
1789 and lasted until the
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That new art should be rational, not sensual and related to their fact. The art critic Diderot stated that in Essai sur la peinture, the aim of art is “to make virtue attractive, vice odious, ridicule forceful; that is the aim of every honest man who takes up the pen, the brush or the chisel.”
(Khan Academy, n.d.).
That new art was known as the Neoclassicism, and Jacques Louis David was one of the most famous
Neoclassicists. He supported the rebels on the King Louis XVI through his paintings, which called to sacrifice for the good of France. Ironically, Oath of the Horatii was commissioned by the king himself and was finished before the revolution. (McCoy, n.d.). However, David conveyed messages of the Revolution through it, and he symbolized the personal sacrifice for the country in an amazing way. His message was that he belonged to his country, not to the monarchy. Through those three brothers and their father raising their hands towards the swords and taking an oath to save Rome, he insisted that there is no safe nor freedom without self-sacrifice.
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