Structural Clues to Corneille's Meaning in "Horatius"

Abstract

David's famous painting, Oath of the Horatii, has served for many art history classes as a fine example of the calculated geometrics of French neoclassicism. The powerful intersecting lines of force which seem unconsciously to form a series of firmly based triangles convey to the viewer simultaneous impressions of urgency, strength, and serenity. Similarly, Pierre Corneille's play on the same subject, written in 1639, a century and a half before David's painting, is a carefully structured work of art in which a violent, almost barbaric story from Livy's history of Rome is imbued with a quality of classic dignity.