Jacques-Louis David
One
of the foremost Neoclassical painters in France was Jacques-Louis David
(1748-1825). At the time of his career, the popular form of French art was
rococo, a style that was baroque, ornate, ostentatious, and frivolous. DavidŐs
Neoclassical paintings were a reaction against the rococo as he because the
main voice for a movement of reform. DavidŐs Neoclassicism is modern because it
was used for the purpose of responding to old ways.
The
modernity of David can be grasped by reading his words. He truly believed he
was creating art for a purpose. The purpose of art, he said, was to Ňspread the
progress of the human spirit and to propagate...the striking examples of the
efforts of a tremendous people who, guided by reason and pihlosophy, are
bringing back to earth the reign of liberty, equality, and law.Ó[1] This
type of Neoclassicism, conscious Neoclassicism, if you will, is inherently
modern.
The Death of Marat
DavidŐs
most famous work, and perhaps the most famous Neoclassical work ever, is The
Death of Marat (1793). Marat was
one of the leaders of the French Revolution, in which David took an active
part. Marat had a skin condition which required him to immerse himself in a
bath. One day, a young woman stabbed him in the chest while he was reading a
petition. The painting is straightforward and direct; the background is black;
there is no excess blood. The look on MaratŐs face is unfantastic. In fact, at
first glance, everything seems to be normal. The knife with which Marat was
killed sits quietly on the floor in the shadow. This seems to be an unfitting
tribute to someone whom Marat considered to be a martyr. However, this is the
Neoclassical style. There is no pomp associated with the death; Marat died in a
mundane situation, left vulnerable in his own bathtub. The emotion of the
painting, though subtle, lies in the sadness of a great leader dying in his own
bathtub before his prime. MaratŐs form is reminiscent of classical figures. DavidŐs
devotion in The Death of Marat proves that Neoclassicists can be driven not only
by cold, detached sentiments but also by just as much emotion as Romantics. The
political connotation, the production of art to express DavidŐs personal
political sentiments, is a modern way to utilize artŐs mass-exposure to the
public for an end.
In
addition to it being a response to Baroque (or Rococo, in France) art,
Neoclassicism, though it is backward-looking in its recollection of style, is a
modern movement because of the connotations of its revival. The columns,
arches, and domes that Neoclassicial architecture incorporated are all Greek
styles. All of these elements connote the progressive aspects of Greek society.
The Greek city of Athens was a great democratic city-state that promoted
learning, science, and peace, all Enlightenment ideals. Even in the 18th
century, when the Greek style was recalled, these aspects of Greek society were
still progressive and modern. Though the style and the ideas were not new, the
movement was still modern because it was still relevant and progressive even in
its time.