The thesis of the French Revolution video was that Jacques Louis David was a shameless propaganda artist who latched on to whoever was currently in power in the French government.
Jacques Louis David rose to fame through his painting "Death of Morat," where he portrayed Morat's assassination. This painting gave Morat cult like status and made David much more popular. Morat and Robespierre were David's idols and so he became a propaganda artist under Robespierre during the terror. Despite the thousands of executions and blood-filled streets in France, Jacques Louis David kept on churning out propaganda paintings supporting the efforts of Robespierre. While David did not necessarily support the terror, the fact that he was the face of the propaganda art movement behind it implicates him.
David also resumed his career as a propaganda artist during Napoleon's rule. After he got out of jail he quickly resumed his past endeavors by painting a stirring picture of Napoleon on horseback. One might think that after narrowly avoiding the guillotine and being labeled with the title "tyrant of the arts," David would like low. And he did for a short while, only doing modest portraits. But old habits die hard like the video said, and it wasn't long before David was doing more propaganda artwork for just the newest and most successful person in the French government.
To go the place where I found the picture, click here.
This sketch by Jacques Louis David is called "Tennis Court Oath" and was drawn in 1791.
David did this before the Terror and was probably still an active political member in the
National Assembly. David is showing the Tennis Court Oath in a favorable light because of the
light overall color and the general excitement as shown by the enormous amounts of people,
including those trying to get in through the windows. Despite the obvious debate going on, no
one seems angry and they just want their idea to get heard.
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