Lictors bring Brutus the bodies of his sons, Jacques-Louis David – description

Description of the picture:

The lictors bring Brutus the bodies of the offspring – Jacques Louis David. 1789. Oil on canvas. Three hundred and twenty-three x four hundred and twenty-two cm

   The story of Lucius Junius Brutus is full of tragedy, based on the formation of municipal interests to the detriment of personal emotions. The founder of the Roman Republic, Brutus, executed his own two offspring for the monarchist komplot. The moment when the pope is brought to the dead already by his offspring and was captured by the sparkling painter Jacques Louis David.

   The whole place of the picture seemed to be immersed in twilight, from which the painter grabs the most important thing with the help of light spots – here are Brut’s wife frozen like a stone and her daughters clinging to her, but in the background are dead bodies snatched by light. Brutus himself remains in the shadows, immersed in gloomy thoughts.

   David’s painting, like many of his works, was the link linking the eminent plot of the past with modern realities. In their contemporary viewer, he saw strength, valor, perseverance and sacrifice, feelings that were not alien to France itself, embraced by the revolutionary spirit.

   The painter himself deeply shared such sacrifice. There is evidence that one companion of David petitioned for his sister, sentenced to execution – the painter was friends with Robespierre and at the theoretical level could help the fate of the ill-fated. But David flatly refused to do this, proclaiming the justice of the government decision."