THE HERO IN THE WORKS OF THE NEOCLASSICISTARTIST JACQUES LOUIS DAVID

Abstract

In this study, the phenomenon of heroism seen in the works of Jacques Louis David, one of the important representatives of French painting and Neoclassicism in the history of Western art, has been examined. The foundations of the neoclassical understanding began to be laid before the middle of the eighteenth century, and the reason for the reactivity was the excessive ornamentation and artificiality of the Baroque and Rococo before it. In the century it emerged, important developments in various fields laid the groundwork for Neoclassicism, and especially the effects of ancient cities unearthed in the archaeological area on artists formed the mainstay of the style. In this way, the artistic qualities of antiquity were brought to the fore. Ancient Greek and Roman works have shown their existence as a version of the updated worldview and a new aesthetic understanding. Its effects are seen in many branches of art, including the field of painting. By praising the noble simplicity and quiet splendor created by antiquity, pure and clear works, technically isolated from the effects of light, in which linearity comes to the fore, were produced. In the works of David, who is the most prominent artist of this style, which adopts order and limitations as its rules, dignified examples of a rational, moral and noble spirit are selected. In the artist's productions, symbolic images have served as elements that contribute to the semantic dimension of the expression. With the stable stance of Jacques Louis David, who was the official artist of the French Revolution as an extension of the Age of Enlightenment, the patriotism, self-sacrifice, and heroism ideals of the new classicism were articulated with the identity of the Romans formed with the ideas of virtue and pro-republic freedom in an original and updated aestheticized form. The transfer of heroic stories, which is an important feature of the movement, has taken its place in David's hands at a high level of maturity.