The Intervention of the Women of Sabine by Jacques-Louis David, is in the Louvre. Mom knew all about his works and I clearly remember her telling Mary, Micah and me about this scene when we saw it in March of 2000. I think she said that it took place in early Rome. It may depict a scene from a literary work, rather than a scene from history. If I'm remembering the story correctly, one army abducted the women of another army, and the women married the captors, had children with them. Then the men who had had their wives, sisters and daughters stolen from them went to battle with the army who had stolen and subsequently married the women. The painting depicts the battle between the two armies with the women, in the middle, children at their feet, trying to keep the armies (one army of their husbands and sons and the other an army of their fathers and brothers) apart. Even the children are fighting. I'm not sure why I like the painting so much. The story is interesting but, mostly, I'm amazed that a human being could paint something so magnificent. The painting is gigantic (12' 8" x 17' 3/4") and it took the artist almost 4 years. You oughta see it in real life! Much better than the one I got off the internet! Maybe Don can post something about this. I think he and Mom discussed this kind of thing frequently. She said some of the paintings we saw were from The Iliad or The Odyssey. Was this one of them?
The Intervention of the Women of Sabine by Jacques-Louis David, is in the Louvre. Mom knew all about his works and I clearly remember her telling Mary, Micah and me about this scene when we saw it in March of 2000. I think she said that it took place in early Rome. It may depict a scene from a literary work, rather than a scene from history. If I'm remembering the story correctly, one army abducted the women of another army, and the women married the captors, had children with them. Then the men who had had their wives, sisters and daughters stolen from them went to battle with the army who had stolen and subsequently married the women. The painting depicts the battle between the two armies with the women, in the middle, children at their feet, trying to keep the armies (one army of their husbands and sons and the other an army of their fathers and brothers) apart. Even the children are fighting. I'm not sure why I like the painting so much. The story is interesting but, mostly, I'm amazed that a human being could paint something so magnificent. The painting is gigantic (12' 8" x 17' 3/4") and it took the artist almost 4 years. You oughta see it in real life! Much better than the one I got off the internet! Maybe Don can post something about this. I think he and Mom discussed this kind of thing frequently. She said some of the paintings we saw were from The Iliad or The Odyssey. Was this one of them?
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