"The Thinker" and "The Oath of Horatii"

Paper Summary:

This paper compares two pieces of art - a painting entitled "The Oath of Horatii" by Jacques-Louis David and Auguste Rodin's sculpture, "The Thinker." It describes the history and background of each artwork and the reasons for their commission. The paper looks briefly at how they were created and the final outcome for each piece. It also looks at where the pieces can be found today.

From the Paper:

"The figures in the painting are lit from the left and standing out against the dark background. There are three separate scenes--the three Horatii, stand on the left in a military pose and face their father who is in the middle of the painting blessing them with his right hand and raising three swords with his left hand. In the third scene, the women hold each other. Each of these three areas shows a different emotion--the tense faces on the Horatii, the agony of the father and the grief of the women. Calvet (39) explains that David followed the composition of the fresco, with the central figures placed in the foreground to the right, the wall of a temple with figures standing and sitting among the columns in the middle ground, and in background a classical columned facade. Red is the color that is used throughout to contrast with the dark areas. The other colors are muted browns and cremes (Eitner 23). It emphasizes the blood and hot emotions on the one hand, but the sorrow on the other."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Calvet, Arlette. Unpublished Studies for "The Oath of the Horatii" by Jacques-Louis David. Master Drawings, (1968) 6.1: 37-42, 81-90.
• Chilvers, Ian. Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Eitner, Lorenz. An Outline of 19th Century European Painting: From David through Cezanne. New York: Westview Press, 1992.
• Hatcher, Evelyn Payne. Art as Culture: An Introduction to the Anthropology of Art.: Westport, CT.: Bergin & Garvey, 1999.
• Selz, Jean. Modern Sculpture: Origins and Evolution. New York: George Braziller, 1963

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