Shop art print and framed art Les Licteurs rapportent à Brutus les corps de ses fils by Jacques-Louis David

The lictors bring Brutus the bodies of his sons is a painting by Jacques-Louis David in 1789. It depicts the return of the bodies of Brutus' sons. It was their father himself who decided to have them executed, after they had plotted to re-establish the monarchy: in this, Brutus represents unwavering devotion to the Republic, above and beyond any private interests. Commissioned by the Bâtiments du Roi for the Salon of 1787, the painting was completed two years later. Purchased for 6,000 livres by the King, it was exhibited at the Salon of 1789 and the Salon of 1791. It has belonged to the Louvre collections since 1793 and is exhibited alongside other works by David, such as The Oath of the Horatii and The Rite of Napoleon. For his work, Jacques-Louis David chose to invent a scene that does not appear in any ancient source. The scene takes place in the consul's flats, and the tones are predominantly ochre-orange. The space of the scene is delimited in the painting by the Doric columns and the draped walls, which prevent any depth of field. The consul Brutus is seated on a curule chair in the lower left-hand corner, in shadow. Behind him, the lictors march past carrying the bodies of his sons. The feet of one can be seen on the left, and part of the body of the other painted in foreshortened form in the shadow of the corridor. To the right, Brutus' wife and daughters mourn the deaths of the young men, while an older woman hides her face in her dress. In the centre, an empty [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the neoclassicism style.

 

« Les Licteurs rapportent à Brutus les corps de ses fils » is kept at Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

 

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