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The Oath of the Horatii
Le Serment des Horaces
Three Roman brothers swear to their father to fight for Rome or die, their sisters weeping beside them.
The story is from Livy: to settle a war between Rome and Alba, three brothers from each city were to fight it out. The Horatii hold out their arms to the swords their father raises, while the women give way to grief: one of the sisters is engaged to one of the brothers they will fight.
David painted it in Rome for King Louis XVI and showed it at the Salon of 1785. Its hard light, its bare columns and its few stern figures made it the model of the new classical style, and soon a call to duty for the Revolution. Stand before it in 3D ›
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