Study carefully the following extract from The Social Contract, and the painting The Lictors Returning to Brutus The Bodies of his Sons

Both Rousseau and Davids philosophy have the same idea where David was influenced by Rousseau to a great extent. However, they have presented their ideas in assorted medium whereby unrivalled was on the written form whereas the new(prenominal) maven was on the visual form. Therefore, this essay lead prove their ideas in different centerings which they ar explored by Rousseau and David. Rousseau constructed the loving look at was to solve the question of freedom, and his solution to this difficulty was the construction of the civil reconcile.In other words, his idea was that living in the civil state was similar as signing a contract in which one agrees to obey the planetary will and not ones bad-tempered will. Rousseau wanted to show that man could live in the civil state and be free as in the state of genius. Through the sort out of citizens, apiece willing to surrender himself and live with others as a intact which required thinking rationally and act morally. Mos t importantly, by agreeing to the social contract, batch gave up their physical freedom in state of genius and signing himself oer to the civil state. Hence, this directed by the general will.In the first off and second line of the extract, a remarkable change in man indicates that people would benefit in a change from the state of nature to civil state. He believed that in joining the civil state, people head for the hills the sla genuinely of appetite and fulfill themselves as human beings. Only general will makes people human. Our grouchy wills may want to pursue selfish ends with no regard for the peoples bets. Hence, Rousseau believed that general will is a will that it would be in each individuals best interest to think according to the general will and so escape brutish stupidity. (Blk 3, pp115).Therefore, votes must(prenominal) be cast to find a general will. This general will is the product of reason (Blk 3, pp122). Only thusly will the society benefit if citizen ac t according to reason and enshroud the general will. Thus, in obeying the state, citizens will be obeying themselves because the general will should be what they desire. Therefore, the particular will should coincide with the will of the state because everyone wants the best. Another idea from Rousseau was to be legimate, the authority the state has over the people must come from the people themselves (Blk 3, pp97).In social contract, Rousseau is trying to defend a certain debate about legimate authority. He argued that a state is only legimate if based on a contract between all its fr satisfys, in which they give remote their bad qualities in exchange for good qualities. Thus, he claimed that the goal of the establishment should be to secure freedom, equality, functions and justice for all within the state. Hence, he similarly claimed that we should abandon our inclinations and consult our reason and think as a member of the state. This had to adopt the general will. As such , people could relate Rousseaus political ideas with Davids painting.It helped to flash a passion amongst the french general public and change French politics. In Rousseaus social contract, the minorities of individuals who do not agree with the general will must not be ignored. When there is a conflict between the dickens, Rousseau expects that the citizen will rationalize and choose the general will over his particular will. To do other than would be ignoble and slavish to selfish appetite. This emphasizes duty to state over personal desires and it was this same belief which David, a painter of the Revolution subscribe to.In his painting, The Lictors Returning to Brutus the Bodies of his sons, David painted in such a way that the view of the spectator is at the same level and it is drawn in a horizontal space. The picture is organized into twain different token groups whereby the females ar on the extreme right while the males are on the extreme left. Thus, the empty chair f orms a barrier between the 2 halves of the painting. The group of female figures and a woman on the far right attract the attention in this picture. Their strong emotions show sadness and anxiety to grief at the sight of the corpses.The tallest woman gives a point of interest that she is turning towards her dead sons and one of her make its supports her two daughters while the other hand hopes to rush towards her dead sons. However, her two daughters could not accept the impartiality that the death of their family members as one was fainted and the other one used her two hands to hide her eyes. Next to them is a female who is seated at one corner as she is deeply depressed of this perspective. On the left, Brutus sits impassively in the shadow of the goddess Roma and his right arm signals the lictors to bring the corpses in.He turned his back and refused to look at his dead sons. His tightly prehend toes and muscles on his arms show how tense he is. His other hand held a letter tightly. Thus, the kernel of the letter has something to do with his sons as they think a plot to overthrow Brutus. Thus, David has chosen a part of report and he has painted at that moment that Brutus sacrificed his sons for the sake of politics. Hence, he has visualised the conflicts between political duty and family allegiances. The painting became politically significant because the content reflected the Roman republican virtues and promoted the ideas of moralizing France.This painting leads our eyes along billet lines and into the depths of the room which was give uped half-way on this picture. The column nearest to the viewer, the phantasm doorsill and the walls on the left and the curtain screen on the right block the view of what lies behind the painting, making us focus on the action of the figures which was closer to us. Thus, it similarly creates a greater depth in the down(p) brickwork beyond a second row of columns. The colours and features of the lictors who are first to enter the room are darker then those behind them.Hence, this gives a pull ahead sense of pictorial space and takes the viewer deeper into the picture creating depth. The red blow to the left closer to us adds to another dimensional space. Thus, the different proportions of the chairs and tabulate add more space and depth to the picture. Light is bright and has poured into the scene with different angles. This makes the spotlight effect on the female figures which captures our attention. Bright lights in any case fall on the columns and empty chair, on the feet of Brutus and on the legs of the body on the second litter.It is also more evident from the shadow of the man on the left, the shadow of female group on the cloth and flooring and one of the lictors shadows is cast on the column. We could conclude that the light is coming from the doorway from the left. These also seem to be lit in their outlines and add to the three-dimensional effect. In his painting, David chose bright colours such as red and orange costumes for the females, tabulate cloth and empty chair. On the other hand, he also chose dark neutral colours to create a somber mood.There is a broad tonal range in it as a whole, from very bright to very dark and this creates dramatic contrasts. The figures are sackly delineate and certain colours are repeated and balanced as reflected in this painting. Like Davids painting, Rousseaus ideas are also very clear and well-defined. The brushwork is well-defined and shows clear facial expressions. The expressions on the female figures clearly showed their emotion reactions whereas Brutus is left alone. Brutus and his sons had different views as his sons supported the monarchy instead of him.Thus, it symbolizes that from the left are emotions and from the right are reasons. Therefore, David introduces the themes of the triumph and role of reason. When looking at Davids painting, it could not separate from Rousseaus ideas. As I have menti oned earlier, one must surrender himself and live with others as a whole which required thinking rationally and act morally. In other words, we should bring across the moral values that people should be noble and not possess those bad qualities that has mentioned in the extract.Last just now not least, the similarity between Rousseau and David is their ideas involved human reasons and attitudes. Hence, it also grasps an wound up and passionate side of man in both painting and extract. These two medium symbolizes both political and historical context. Thus, Davids Neoclassical art extolled polite virtues and emphasized morality, Rousseau was willing to sanction death as a penalty allowing for the achievement of his civil state and Davids painting serves as propaganda to reflect his political theory in his painting.