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Girodet found inspiration for this drawing in Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy <em>Seven against Thebes.</em> Dramatized with powerful physicality, seven warrior leaders from Argos raise weapons to the war deities Ares and Enyo at the far left as they immerse their hands in the blood of a sacrificed bull, and swear an oath to defeat Thebes. Girodet’s strong black outlines and idealized male nudes are characteristic of Neoclassicism’s calculated restraint. Yet the flash of lightning and the warrior’s impassioned expressions intensify the emotional and psychological content of the scene, anticipating the growth of romanticism in European art during the early 1800s.
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- df360315778ba353
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 161708
- Core
- obj
- Type
- drawing
DTO data
{
"id": "161708",
"contentType": "drawing",
"title": "The Oath of the Seven Chiefs against Thebes",
"description": "Girodet found inspiration for this drawing in Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy <em>Seven against Thebes.</em> Dramatized with powerful physicality, seven warrior leaders from Argos raise weapons to the war deities Ares and Enyo at the far left as they immerse their hands in the blood of a sacrificed bull, and swear an oath to defeat Thebes. Girodet’s strong black outlines and idealized male nudes are characteristic of Neoclassicism’s calculated restraint. Yet the flash of lightning and the warrior’s impassioned expressions intensify the emotional and psychological content of the scene, anticipating the growth of romanticism in European art during the early 1800s.",
"date": "c. 1800",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2000.71",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q79984786"
],
"creators": [
1697
],
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"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 41.8 x 62 cm (16 7/16 x 24 7/16 in.)",
"cul": [
"France, late 18th, early 19th century"
],
"accession": "2000.71"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "161708",
"label": "The Oath of the Seven Chiefs against Thebes",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "drawing"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "161708",
"contentType": "drawing",
"title": "The Oath of the Seven Chiefs against Thebes",
"description": "Girodet found inspiration for this drawing in Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy <em>Seven against Thebes.</em> Dramatized with powerful physicality, seven warrior leaders from Argos raise weapons to the war deities Ares and Enyo at the far left as they immerse their hands in the blood of a sacrificed bull, and swear an oath to defeat Thebes. Girodet’s strong black outlines and idealized male nudes are characteristic of Neoclassicism’s calculated restraint. Yet the flash of lightning and the warrior’s impassioned expressions intensify the emotional and psychological content of the scene, anticipating the growth of romanticism in European art during the early 1800s.",
"date": "c. 1800",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2000.71",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q79984786"
],
"creators": [
1697
],
"genreSpecific": [
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],
"iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_web.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 41.8 x 62 cm (16 7/16 x 24 7/16 in.)",
"cul": [
"France, late 18th, early 19th century"
],
"accession": "2000.71"
}
Document source extras
{
"tec": "Black chalks and white chalk with stumping and erasing on light brown wove paper",
"tombstone": "The Oath of the Seven Chiefs against Thebes, c. 1800. Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (French, 1767–1824). Black chalks and white chalk with stumping and erasing on light brown wove paper; overall: 41.8 x 62 cm (16 7/16 x 24 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2000.71",
"supportMaterials": [
{
"description": "light brown wove paper"
}
],
"collection": "DR - French",
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "The number 29 (est.) is inscribed along the bottom edge in graphite (over black chalk?)"
}
],
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” October 6, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 1",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr4354"
},
{
"citation": "Foster, Carter E. \"\"Magnificent Seven.\" <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 41, no. 2 (February 2001): 4-5.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 4-5",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2001-02/page/n3/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Bellenger, Sylvain, ed.<em> Girodet, 1767-1824</em>. [Paris, France]: Gallimard, 2006.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 424, cat. 100"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2000.71",
"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-29 08:24:19.070000",
"imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_print.jpg",
"sourceId": 161708,
"dept": "Drawings",
"coll": "DR - French",
"med": "Black chalks and white chalk with stumping and erasing on light brown wove paper",
"creatorTags": [
"male"
],
"thumbnail_url": null,
"image_url": null
}
Page context
{
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"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2000.71/2000.71_web.jpg",
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