Summary:
The great philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau inspired the French Revolution through his ideas based upon reason. He exploring the notion of duty to the state by providing the public with his argument in the social contract, which was frequently quoted and referred to during the early stages of the Revolution.
It is generally agreed that the great philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the artist Jacques-Louis David had played a great role in serving and supporting the French Revolution, in addition to, showing their devotion to their state and explore the notion of duty to the state each one by his own special way.
The great philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau had inspired the revolution by his argument and ideas that was based on Reason. He played a great role in exploring the notion of duty to the state by providing the public with his argument in the social contract,which was frequently quoted and referred to during the early stages of the Revolution.
The social contract was concerned to establish whether or not the authority of the state is legitimate. His fundamental problem is to find a way in which we can live in a state and yet remain as free as before. He explained that, this only could be achieved if the general will of the individual always coincide with the will of the state. Therefore, he had recourse to the concept of the general will, which is defined as "the general will of a group taken as a whole rather than as a collection of individuals."
He tried to convince us of this by describing the difference between the state of nature and the civil state, and in effect, asking which we think is better. To be in the state of nature, would be to act on appetite and so be slavish and bad. To be in the civil state, is to act according to reason and so be noble and good. We ought constantly to bless the moment that we moved in to the civil state because this gives us the chance to be noble and good .So,says Rousseau it is in each of our interests to choose the general will .Therefore, if we think according to the general will,then in obeying the state we will be obeying only ourselves,and if we do what we ought, there will be no problem of legitimacy, because our individual's will and the will of the state will be identical. Hence, whenever the individuals follow the state's order and be aware of his duty to the state,then he is serving his country in addition to serving himself in the first place.
But Rousseau's system has a remarkable problem .He insures that the will of each person always coincide with the will of the state-either voluntary or by force-and this inclined to be autocratic solution and against democracy .He neglects the minorities' views and forces them to obey the general will. in another word, they had to suppress their views and follow the majorities, whether they are convinced with it or not. He justifies that, by doing so, you are forcing them to be free and this is for their benefit at the end.
Regarding Jacques-Louis David, who was the official painter of the French revolution and later Napoleon .He tried to express his devotion to the state through out his paintings, which was exhibited at the saloon in order to be seen by the public. He believed in the significance and value of the art in conveying messages in order to inspire the public, especially during a critical circumstance like the revolution. As an official painter of the revolution, he tried to express his devotion to the state by painting pictures; each element of his paintings tends to convey messages about duty to the state.
By looking on his color plate no.39,in titled " The Lectors Bringing To Brutus The Bodies Of His Sons." David deals with the subject of death in service of the state, and speaking out for self- sacrifice, the sacrifice of one's own flesh and blood for the state and higher ideals. The story takes about Brutus who was a strong supporter to the republican and helped to exile the royal family,he killed his sons by his own order in his capacity as a magistrate because they had participated in a plot to restore the monarchy. In 1789, for David to bring up such a subject was hotly controversial, and reveals how deeply committed the artist was to new ideas and enlightenment principles .It was an inflammatory subject at that time of the revolution .Especially the year in which the painting were exhibited in .He also successfully choose the appropriate story of Brutus which was popular with the educated sections of the French public through the eighteenth century.
David adopted a radical compositional format. He divided the scene in to three parts, in the foreground The main character,Brutus, is placed at the extreme left, plunged in to deep shadow, his body is tense and knotted as he broods over the consequences of his act. He grasp the death warrant and clenches his feet one across the other, his meditative expression seems to remove him even further from the immediate action .In the middle ground and on the right side of the picture the inconsolable women who are brightly illuminated, He shows the mother accusing and suffering,she have a conflict desire to rush towards the procession and to support the younger girls,her daughters beside her, hands raised defensively and finally the younger daughter sunk down in pain at her impotence .While in the background are the lectors carrying the bodies of Brutus' sons. David intended to divide the scene in order to give each figure its own attention, and to enable the viewer to feel and sense the different emotions,to feel Brutus' brooding over his act and his family's sorrow as a result for this decision.
David successfully employed the pictorial space to serve his message . This can be seen through the perspective lines, which is created by the lines along the tiled floor and the bricks of the walls. They seems to converge at a point close to the left shoulder of the tallest female figure, where the vanishing point is located too. The angel of vision tends to give us a feeling as if we are standing parallel to the scene and looking mainly to the female group. He managed to give us a sense of recession into depth of this work by leading our eyes along perspective lines and to the depth of the room .Moreover,the colors and features of those members of the procession who are first to enter the room are darker and less precise than those behind them, another indication of their greater distance from the viewer .Moreover, depicting the white curtain screen behind the female group tends to make us focus on the action closer to us .
David successfully illuminated the grief and allegorized the suffering, fear and pain of his figures. Light seems to pour in to the scene from different angles and mainly focus on the female group and Brutus' legs. Also, the grieved women are depicted in bright colors and placed on the light,whereas the "hero" Brutus, sits in the shadow with the dark mien of a thinker. The use of illuminated bright color of the female group in contrast to the dark and dimmed color of Brutus giving a broad tonal range,this tends to sharpen the impact of dramatic contrast.
It seems that the formal elements of this painting are conspiring to focus our attention toward the grieved women,and to show us how brave is Brutus' decision,that he even neglect his family's sorrow and even turn his back away from his sons' bodies .He commit his decision unhesitatingly,raising the voice of duty to the state over everything else even his own flesh and blood .
Finally, we can conclude and detect a lots of similarities between the ways in which Rousseau and David did explore the notion of duty to the state .Both of them believed in the great role of philosophy and art in educating the public, therefore,they used their profession successfully to express their devotion to state and serve their country,each one by his own way .
STUDENT NAME: AMAL ABDEL HADI
STUDENT ID: 040208
SECTION NO. : 202
TUTOR NAME: Dr. ALASAD OMAR
TMA 6
Exploring the notion of duty to the state
It is generally agreed that the great philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the artist Jacques-Louis David had played a great role in serving and supporting the French revolution, in addition to, showing their devotion to their state and explore the notion of duty to the state each one by his own special way.
The great philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau had inspired the revolution by his argument and ideas that was based on Reason. He played a great role in exploring the notion of duty to the state by providing the public with his argument in the social contract,which was frequently quoted and referred to during the early stages of the revolution.
The social contract was concerned to establish whether or not the authority of the state is legitimate. His fundamental problem is to find a way in which we can live in a state and yet remain as free as before. He explained that, this only could be achieved if the general will of the individual always coincide with the will of the state. Therefore, he had recourse to the concept of the general will, which is defined as "the general will of a group taken as a whole rather than as a collection of individuals."
He tried to convince us of this by describing the difference between the state of nature and the civil state,and in effect, asking which we think is better .To be in the state of nature,, would be to act on appetite and so be slavish and bad .To be in the civil state, is to act according to reason and so be noble and good. We ought constantly to bless the moment that we moved in to the civil state because this gives us the chance to be noble and good .So,says Rousseau it is in each of our interests to choose the general will .Therefore, if we think according to the general will,then in obeying the state we will be obeying only ourselves,and if we do what we ought, there will be no problem of legitimacy, because our individual's will and the will of the state will be identical. Hence, whenever the individuals follow the state's order and be aware of his duty to the state,then he is serving his country in addition to serving himself in the first place.
But Rousseau's system has a remarkable problem .He insures that the will of each person always coincide with the will of the state-either voluntary or by force-and this inclined to be autocratic solution and against democracy .He neglects the minorities' views and forces them to obey the general will. in another word, they had to suppress their views and follow the majorities, whether they are convinced with it or not. He justifies that, by doing so, you are forcing them to be free and this is for their benefit at the end.
Regarding Jacques-Louis David, who was the official painter of the French revolution and later Napoleon .He tried to express his devotion to the state through out his paintings, which was exhibited at the saloon in order to be seen by the public. He believed in the significance and value of the art in conveying messages in order to inspire the public, especially during a critical circumstance like the revolution. As an official painter of the revolution, he tried to express his devotion to the state by painting pictures; each element of his paintings tends to convey messages about duty to the state.
By looking on his color plate no.39,in titled " The Lectors Bringing To Brutus The Bodies Of His Sons." David deals with the subject of death in service of the state, and speaking out for self- sacrifice, the sacrifice of one's own flesh and blood for the state and higher ideals. The story takes about Brutus who was a strong supporter to the republican and helped to exile the royal family,he killed his sons by his own order in his capacity as a magistrate because they had participated in a plot to restore the monarchy. In 1789, for David to bring up such a subject was hotly controversial, and reveals how deeply committed the artist was to new ideas and enlightenment principles .It was an inflammatory subject at that time of the revolution .Especially the year in which the painting were exhibited in .He also successfully choose the appropriate story of Brutus which was popular with the educated sections of the French public through the eighteenth century.
David adopted a radical compositional format. He divided the scene in to three parts, in the foreground The main character,Brutus, is placed at the extreme left, plunged in to deep shadow, his body is tense and knotted as he broods over the consequences of his act. He grasp the death warrant and clenches his feet one across the other, his meditative expression seems to remove him even further from the immediate action .In the middle ground and on the right side of the picture the inconsolable women who are brightly illuminated, He shows the mother accusing and suffering,she have a conflict desire to rush towards the procession and to support the younger girls,her daughters beside her, hands raised defensively and finally the younger daughter sunk down in pain at her impotence .While in the background are the lectors carrying the bodies of Brutus' sons. David intended to divide the scene in order to give each figure its own attention, and to enable the viewer to feel and sense the different emotions,to feel Brutus' brooding over his act and his family's sorrow as a result for this decision.
David successfully employed the pictorial space to serve his message . This can be seen through the perspective lines, which is created by the lines along the tiled floor and the bricks of the walls. They seems to converge at a point close to the left shoulder of the tallest female figure, where the vanishing point is located too. The angel of vision tends to give us a feeling as if we are standing parallel to the scene and looking mainly to the female group. He managed to give us a sense of recession into depth of this work by leading our eyes along perspective lines and to the depth of the room .Moreover,the colors and features of those members of the procession who are first to enter the room are darker and less precise than those behind them, another indication of their greater distance from the viewer .Moreover, depicting the white curtain screen behind the female group tends to make us focus on the action closer to us .
David successfully illuminated the grief and allegorized the suffering, fear and pain of his figures. Light seems to pour in to the scene from different angles and mainly focus on the female group and Brutus' legs. Also, the grieved women are depicted in bright colors and placed on the light,whereas the "hero" Brutus, sits in the shadow with the dark mien of a thinker. The use of illuminated bright color of the female group in contrast to the dark and dimmed color of Brutus giving a broad tonal range,this tends to sharpen the impact of dramatic contrast.
It seems that the formal elements of this painting are conspiring to focus our attention toward the grieved women,and to show us how brave is Brutus' decision,that he even neglect his family's sorrow and even turn his back away from his sons' bodies .He commit his decision unhesitatingly,raising the voice of duty to the state over everything else even his own flesh and blood .
Finally, we can conclude and detect a lots of similarities between the ways in which Rousseau and David did explore the notion of duty to the state .Both of them believed in the great role of philosophy and art in educating the public, therefore,they used their profession successfully to express their devotion to state and serve their country,each one by his own way .
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