Corporality and communication : the gestural revolution of Diderot, David, and the Oath of the Horatii

Author

Johnson, Dorothy

Document type

Article (journal)

Language

English

Source

Art bulletin. 1989, Num. 1, Vol. 71, p. 92-113, 17 ill.

ISSN

0004-3079

Abstract (en)

This study examines a revolutionary stylistic development in late 18th-century French painting, in which an emphasis on corporal expression embodied in gesture dramatically replaced the prevailing aesthetics of physiognomy inherited from Le Brun. This development, adumbrated by Diderot in his devout desire for a "gestural sublime" in the visual arts, was realized by J.-L. David in the Oath of the Horatii of 1784-85 (Paris, Louvre), a painting that overturned the academic style of the 1770's. After the appearance of the Oath, critics, like the emulous artists, regarded corporal expression in its myriad aspects as the central ingredient in painting. This gestural revolution, embodied in The Oath, coincided remarkably with a new interest in the relationship between corporality and morality in the writings of various political, social, and scientific theorists of the time.

Subject (en)

• General history of art -- 1400-1800 -- Pictorial arts -- Painting and drawing -- France
• France
• 1700-1800
• Oath of the Horatii
• Musée national du Louvre||Paris (FRA)
• Art theory
• David, Jacques-Louis, 1748-1825
• Painting
• Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784
• Gesture

Subject (fr)

• Histoire générale de l'art -- 1400-1800 -- Peinture et arts graphiques -- Peinture et dessin -- France
• France
• 1700-1800
• Le Serment des Horaces
• Musée national du Louvre||Paris (FRA)
• Théorie de l'art
• David, Jacques-Louis, 1748-1825
• Peinture
• Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784
• Geste

Origin

DatabaseBHA (Inist-CNRS/GRI)

Identifier19910101-00446355

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