David's work could be said to evoke the feelings prevalent at the time of the French Revolution, though it is best noted that even though a radical and friend of Robespierre during the Revolution, he had little say BEFORE it. After the fall of the Jacobins, Davd denounced Robespierre and followed a more mainstream view. So mainstream in fact that he ended up being the painter of the Emperor Napoleon, so much for the Vive la revolution eh!?