When he painted The Death of Marat, David was said to have been the first to arrive at the scene of the crime. Yet instead of rushing out to report it or call for help, he sat down and finished his sketch.
Likewise, David had been alone with Marie Antoinette in the prison carriage transporting her. But Marie Antoinette paid him no attention at all, keeping her face turned to one side.
David loved painting such "historic moments."
Madame Récamier could lie motionless on a chaise longue for hours, merely to make it easier for the artist to paint her most graceful pose. Yet David painted Madame Récamier sitting up, like Ariadne newly awakened.
Georgiana opened her black mother-of-pearl fan and fanned herself. She was not hot at all, but ever since David had invited her to be his model, her heart had been unable to settle.
After the Thermidorian Reaction overthrew the Jacobins, David was imprisoned. When the Thermidorians were overthrown, he was released again. From then on, he shifted from revolutionary subjects to classical ones and, encouraged by his wife, painted The Sabine Women.
She thought that painting was already quite good. Why did he need to create another?
Napoleon declared the French Revolution over because of the constitution. The Louisiana Purchase had originally faced the issue of being an "unconstitutional act," but once the 97th meridian was drawn, the problem was solved, because the land being bought was not considered that large.
During the Salem witch trials, besides those who lived apart from society, did not attend worship in town, or were notorious villains, there was also Rebecca Nurse, a woman whose conduct and social dealings were perfectly unremarkable. Her husband, however, served on the land registration and surveying board and had long been involved in territorial