Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/611

Painting in Fkance. 581 S. Vincent of Saragossa receiving martyrs' crowns from an angel ; and for chastened and powerful execution, in the Hermit asleep. Vien said, " I have only half opened the door ; it is M. David who will throw it wide." Jacques Louis David (1748—1825), a relative of Francois Boucher, was born at Paris, accompanied Vien to Rome, and with him studied the works of the great masters. In order to paint Roman subjects and Roman manners, he sought his models in the ruins of ancient Rome; he studied the statues and the bas-reliefs, and read Tacitus and Plutarch. By the severity of his taste, by the admiration of noble thoughts and fine actions, he brought back art to dignity and true grandeur. He lived in Paris, and took part in the great Revolution, and passed many months in prison. But when the Empire had overthrown the Republic, David became painter to the emperor, and prefect of the department of the Fine Arts. After the fall of Napoleon, David took refuge in Brussels, where he continued to paint for many years. His best works are to be found in the Louvre. The Oath of the Horatii was painted at Rome in 1784. Its appearance caused such sensation in the Parisian salons, that from this time we may date the commencement of the fashion for Roman forms in garments, hangings and furniture. The second Republican picture was Marcus Brutus, to whom the lictors are bringing the corpses of his two sons, whom he had condemned to death. It is dated 1789. He painted in 1799 the Sabine Women (Fig. 175) throwing themselves into the midst of the con- flict between the Romans and the Sabines ; and the Death of Marat, struck by Charlotte Corday : then, the Leonidas