The Oath of the Horatii

Jacques-Louis David painted The Oath of the Horatii in 1784, depicting a Roman legend in which three brothers pledge to fight for Rome against three champions from rival Alba Longa. Their father holds three swords as the sons reach forward to swear their oath. Women weep on the right, knowing that blood ties connect both families.

David created the painting in Rome, deliberately adopting a severe Neoclassical style to reject the frivolity of Rococo art. The stark architectural setting, rigid geometric composition, and restrained palette emphasized civic virtue and masculine duty. It caused a sensation at the 1785 Salon.

Though painted before the French Revolution, the themes of patriotic sacrifice and republican virtue made it a symbol of radical ideals. David later became the revolution's official painter. The work hangs at the Louvre, where it remains a landmark of Neoclassical painting and a turning point in European art.