id: 161708 accession number: 2000.71 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2000.71 updated: 2021-03-27 12:16:42.790000 The Oath of the Seven Chiefs against Thebes, c. 1800. Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (French, 1767-1824). Black chalks and white chalk with stumping and erasing on light brown wove paper; overall: 41.8 x 62 cm (16 7/16 x 24 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2000.71 title: The Oath of the Seven Chiefs against Thebes title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1800 creation date earliest: 1795 creation date latest: 1805 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: France, late 18th, early 19th century technique: Black chalks and white chalk with stumping and erasing on light brown wove paper department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (French, 1767-1824) - artist On the advice of his architecture instructor Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799), Girodet enrolled in the atelier of David (q.v.) in 1783 to study painting, working alongside other young artists like Gros (q.v.) and Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Wicar (1762-1834) who were also taught in David's neoclassical style. Girodet's early works display the influence of David in the linear and sculptural quality of his figures. After three consecutive years of competing for the Prix de Rome, he finally won at his fourth effort in 1789. Later that year the Revolution broke out in France and Girodet made numerous drawings of the fall of the Bastille. In 1790 he left for Italy where he stayed for five years. During that time his style changed and softened under the influence of the works of Leonardo (1452-1519) and Correggio (1489/94-1534). Girodet strove to be unique and original in his depictions and even went to great lengths to oppose David's neoclassicism. His new interest in atmospheric and light effects differed from that of his teacher. He made a name for himself at the Salon of 1793, with his submission of Sleep of Endymion (Musée du Louvre, Paris). After his return to Paris from Italy, Girodet became known as a portrait painter and accepted numerous commissions, but many of them were either late in delivery or never completed. Girodet's tendency to interpret commissions to prove his own originality often offended and alienated his patrons. He did not find official success at the Salon again until 1808 and produced little after 1815. --- measurements: Overall: 41.8 x 62 cm (16 7/16 x 24 7/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: light brown wove paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: The number 29 (est.) is inscribed along the bottom edge in graphite (over black chalk?) translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings opening date: 2016-07-16T04:00:00 Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Girodet found inspiration for this drawing in Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy Seven against Thebes. Dramatized with powerful physicality, seven warrior leaders from Argos raise weapons to the war deities Ares and Enyo at the far left as they immerse their hands in the blood of a sacrificed bull, and swear an oath to defeat Thebes. Girodet’s strong black outlines and idealized male nudes are characteristic of Neoclassicism’s calculated restraint. Yet the flash of lightning and the warrior’s impassioned expressions intensify the emotional and psychological content of the scene, anticipating the growth of romanticism in European art during the early 1800s. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” October 6, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: Mentioned: p. 1 url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr4354 Bellenger, Sylvain, ed. Girodet, 1767-1824. [Paris, France]: Gallimard, 2006. page number: Reproduced: p. 424, cat. 100 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_full.tif