David exhibited the cartoon for “The Oath of the Tennis Court” in the Salon of 1791 and on Barère’s proposal the National Assembly voted that the painting be carried out at the cost of the State and be hung in the National Convention as an incentive to zeal. In the Catalogue of the Exhibition David had stated that it was not his intention to make likenesses of the members of the National Assembly. How easily, nevertheless, the Parisian public recognized the various personalities and what a sensation the composition made is proved by the fact that Barère practically became a personage through the fact that David portrayed him writing, in the left foreground, near the principal group--placing on paper for posterity the tale of the great event. Barère’s not too inspired journal, _Point du Jour_, became from that moment a much sought-after sheet. [Illustration: FIG. 13. LAVOISIER AND HIS WIFE (1787) _Private Collection, New York_] [Illustration: FIG. 14. MME. DE RICHMOND AND HER SON (_c._ 1800) _Collection of Mr. Edward J. Berwind, New York_] Despite the many characteristic types, David’s composition “The Oath of the Tennis Court” is essentially in the monumental style in which quite justly details are subordinated to the spirit of the whole. The thronging crowd stands out against the bare walls of the Tennis Court, in a clearly defined linear pattern, built up by the myriad outstretched hands. The figures are all filled with a mighty dramatic force. Bailly, the president, in the centre, stands like a statue of bronze. For the first time David shook himself free of historical subjects, depicted a contemporary event and proved himself well able to adapt his idealistic style to such a theme. In this simplified idiom he attained the expression of a dignified, rhetorical passion which he was unable to encompass to a like degree in his historical subjects, and the lofty idealism of the composition speaks well for the sincerity and intensity of his convictions. [Illustration: FIG. 16. MARAT (Drawing) Study for the painting in Brussels] [Illustration: FIG. 17. DANTON (From drawing in the Museum, Lille)] [Illustration: FIG. 15. LE PELLETIER (From the engraving in the Louvre)]