The Academy and the French Revolution

Raphael, The School of Athens, c. 1510-1512

Charles Joseph Natoire, Life Drawing Class at the French Academy, 1746

Johann Zoffany, The Academicians of the Royal Academy, 1771-2

Female members of the Royal Academy in London: Angelica Kauffmann, Mary Moser Term: patriarchy

Hierarchy of Genres

1) History Painting

2) Portraiture

3) Genre

4) Landscape

5) Still Life

Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784-5

The French Revolution

Terms: Estates General, Third Estate

David, Oath of the Tennis Court, 1791

Term: Versailles (a royal palace)

David, Sketch for the Oath of the Tennis Court, 1791

Saint-Domingue (later Haiti)

1791: slave revolt in Saint-Domingue1794: National Convention in Paris outlawed slavery in the French colonies

Anne-Louis Girodet, Citizen Jean-Baptiste Belley, Ex-Representative of the Colonies, 1797

l. “Reynald,” (Raynal) from Johann Kaspar Lavater, Essai sur la physiognomie destiné à faire connoître l’homme et le faire aimer, 1781.

Term: Physiognomy

Anne-Louis Girodet, Citizen Jean-Baptiste Belley, Ex-Representative of the Colonies, 1797

Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Marat, 1793

“What have I done to you? Mercy … mercy at least for my life.” Illustration to Pierre Viaud, Naufrage et aventures de M. Pierre

Viaud, Natif de Bordeaux, Capitaine de Navire (1770)

Anne-Louis Girodet, Citizen Jean-Baptiste Belley, Ex-Representative of the Colonies, 1797

Guillaume Guillon Lethière, Oath of the Ancestors, 1822

On right: Jean-Jacques Dessalines

On left: Alexandre Pétion

Why is the idea of an “oath” so attractive to artists seeking to give form to political change?

How does Lethière’s oath scene compare to those of David?

What role does the luminous figure of God play in this picture?

Where are the women? What does the image have to say about gender?

How would you compare the figures of Dessalines and Pétion to Girodet’s Belley?