The Lictors Bring Brutus the Bodies of His Sons

Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David, The Lictors Bring Brutus the Bodies of His Sons, 1790 
By SAI GONDI

Jacques-Louis David, born in France, 1748, was unlike other renowned painters. His brush strokes bring to life images of immense aesthetic beauty. However, David’s works also heavily propagated ideas for revolution and nationalistic duty during a period of turmoil in France. He later emerged as the most influential painter during the Neoclassical movement, which occurred when art depicted the “moral climate” of France prior to the French Revolution (Turner).

Art always surrounded David throughout his life. His mother’s family included architects and painters, which influenced his education. He tried for an apprenticeship with François Boucher, his mother’s cousin. After being declined, he ended up as a pupil of Joseph-Marie Vien. David’s early life as a painter consisted of many consecutive failures. Each of his entries for the Prix de Rome, an art competition, kept falling short, though David possessed suspicions of misconduct within the voting committee. Finally, he won in 1774 with his work Erasistratus Discovers the Case of the Illness of Antiochus. In 1775, Vien and him travelled to Rome to explore the studies of 17th century art (Turner). David grew fond of Roman principles and society, which influenced many of his later Neoclassical works, including The Lictors Bring Brutus the Bodies of His Sons.

In 1789, David was commissioned to paint for King Louis XVI. He composed the work The Lictors Bring Brutus the Bodies of His Sons, shorty after the storming of the Bastille, a significant event during the French Revolution (Turner). This painting depicts Brutus, who led the overthrow of the Roman monarchy and helped establish the Republic. After Brutus’ sons were caught attempting to restore the monarchy, Brutus testifies for their execution. Clouded by darkness, Brutus patiently sits with his back turned to his headless sons. There is barely any visible anguish in his demeanor and appearance. He sits in a symbolic shadow to illustrate the darkness behind his gruesome betrayal. To the right of the composition, his wife and daughters contrast him, depicting misery and sorrow. The picture is split through the middle by a basket of cloth and sheers, diving one side to death and darkness while the other is filled with grief. Artistically, David paints the setting masterfully with the usage of pillars and the somber green tarp in the background to emphasize the family. Brutus’ body and face create an emotional discomfort for the viewer. Upon staring at him, one can see his intense loyalty to his country allowed him to make such a heinous decision. Truly, this is a moving work.

Why is this painting relevant to the French Revolution? It demonstrates the idea one must not let anything jeopardize the future success of their nation, even if that implies sanctioning the death of their family. During the Revolution, the masses wanted to overthrow the monarchy, and to do so they needed to rally together and invest themselves in France, making it their duty to protect and reform the country. This painting provokes such ideas, igniting an urge to serve France in the name of saving the country as Brutus did with Rome, no matter the costs. However, David did not originally intend such a political interpretation of his painting (Turner). Still, The Lictors Bring Brutus the Bodies of His Sons illustrates Neoclassical revolutionary ideas that David would quickly immerse himself in throughout the later course of the French Revolution, as seen through his other influential works including Death of Marat and Oath of the Horatii.


Source: The Dictionary of Art, Jane Turner
  • 7:00 AM

The Lictors Bring Brutus the Bodies of his Sons

David
Jacques-Louis David, The Lictors Bring Brutus the Bodies of his Sons, 1789

Few paintings embody so well the worldview of their creator.

The story of Brutus and his sons ends poorly. Brutus famously overthrew the original monarch of Rome, deposing the seventh king of the city and ushering in 500 years of industrious republican government. Brutus became the first consul of Rome and saw about overseeing the transition to a republic. However, even as he worked to strengthen the republic, trouble brewed right under his nose. The recently deposed king’s family, none too happy at their current predicament, immediately began a plot to retake the city and reinstitute a monarchy. They even managed to sweet-talk Brutus’s sons into joining their coup. It failed—one of the intended conspirators turned out to be on the republic’s side—and punishments had to be doled out. Brutus’s job looked unfriendly. The consulate, with Brutus’s approval, sentenced his sons to death. He then attended the execution, which was carried out barbarically so as to deter future conspirators (it didn’t work—another attempt at restoring the throne occurred the very same year). This brings us to the scene that David elected to paint. Brutus sits stoically in the foreground, his curled toes the only sign of the immense pain he must have felt.

A couple of important compositional traits allow David’s sentiments to shine through. Two different worlds exist, divided by the columns. On the left lie the sons and Brutus. Brutus is the image of masculinity; even the death of his sons cannot move him to show emotion. On the other side of the painting, bathed in light, Brutus’s wife and daughters mourn the loss of the sons. This parallels closely the composition of David’s Oath of the Horatii—he depicts strong, determined men cut off from their better halves.

Finally, this painting must be viewed in the context of its creation. Painted in 1789, a time when the king still held influence, the work is a not-so-subtle dig at the monarchy. Not only does the story of Brutus obviously paint the rapacious, treacherous Roman monarchy in a negative light, but the idea of making sacrifices for the revolution must have seemed a particularly salient idea as the pace of executions ramped up in revolutionary France.

David the painter could rarely divorce himself from David the politician, and this painting is of course no different. David’s concepts of masculinity, patriotism, and sacrifice ring loud and clear in this tribute to the first overthrow of a western monarchy.

  • 7:00 AM