Oath of the Horatii pupil Jean-Germaine Drouais who had himself recently won the Prix de Rome. Ultimately, David's picture manifests a progressive outlook, deeply influenced by Enlightenment ideas, that eventually contributed to the overthrow of the monarchy. As the French Revolution approached, paintings increasingly referred to the loyalty to the state rather than the family or the church. Painted five years before the Revolution, the "Oath of the Horatii" reflects the political tensions of the period. In 1789, David painted "The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons", a picture that was also a royal commission. Shortly afterward, the king went up
The Tennis Court Oath (David) Standards" and his 1814 "Leonidas at Thermopylae" were directly inspired by "The Tennis Court Oath". The work was also reprised and adapted by several artists from the late 18th century onwards. These included Auguste Couder in 1848 and Luc-Olivier Merson in 1883. In 1820, David ceded the engraving rights on Jean Pierre Marie Jazet's engraving of "The Tennis Court Oath" to Daniel Isoard de Martouret. The canvas itself was finally acquired in 1836 by the royal museums for the Louvre, where it was exhibited from 1880 onwards. The Tennis Court Oath (David) The Tennis Court Oath (French: "Le Serment du