The Surviving Horatian

first half 19th century

Not on view

The Danish painter Eckersberg spent a year in Paris (1811–12) at the studio of Jacques Louis David, where he completed his training as a history painter. This drawing offers a coda to David’s celebrated painting of 1784–85, "The Oath of the Horatii," as it depicts the sole survivor of the legendary Roman battle between the Horatii and the Curatii triplets. The surviving Horatian sheathes his sword after mercilessly killing his sister for weeping over the death of her fiancé, one of the slain Curatians. The drawing’s precise contour lines and restrained use of wash are exemplary of Eckersberg’s early Neoclassical style.

Artwork Details

Title: The Surviving Horatian
Artist: Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (Danish, Blåkrog 1783–1853 Copenhagen)
Date: first half 19th century
Medium: Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash; framing lines in pen and black ink, by the artist
Dimensions: sheet: 9 1/4 x 12 5/8 in. (23.5 x 32 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2009
Object Number: 2009.397
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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The Sword of Damocles; verso: Sketches of Man's Head and of a Figure with a Raised Arm, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Danish, Pen and black ink, over graphite — The Sword of Damocles; verso: Sketches of Man's Head and of a Figure with a Raised Arm
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
1805

View of Charlottenborg Palace in Copenhagen with the Old Botanical Garden and Figures, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Danish, Pen and gray ink, gray wash, and graphite; an incised construction line at lower left — View of Charlottenborg Palace in Copenhagen with the Old Botanical Garden and Figures
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
ca. 1838–1841

Linear Perspective, Applied to the Art of Painting: A Collection of Studies in Perspective, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Danish, Eleven etched plates — Linear Perspective, Applied to the Art of Painting: A Collection of Studies in Perspective
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
1841

A Section of the Via Sacra, Rome (The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian), Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Danish, Graphite, brush and gray wash, framed with graphite and brush and blue watercolor — A Section of the Via Sacra, Rome (The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian)
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
1814–15

A couple conversing in a stable yard, with a double rainbow overhead, from 'Linear Perspective, Applied to the Art of Painting', Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Danish, Etching — A couple conversing in a stable yard, with a double rainbow overhead, from 'Linear Perspective, Applied to the Art of Painting'
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
1841

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