FILE: 06_The Burial of Atala_Girodet.jpg

TITLE: PAINTING - The Burial of Atala - ROMANTICISM

DESCRIPTION: GIRODET. FRANCE. Favorite STUDENT of DAVID. EPITOME OF ROMANTICISM. Doesn't invite philosophy, it's all about emotion. Based on romantic NOVEL by Chateubriand. Moon's rays play upon Atala & cast a dreamlike, mystical, magic light, establishing Romantic mood. Atala's American Indian lover—looking like a Neoclassical version of a Roman hero—and a missionary lay her to rest after she has committed suicide rather than break the vow of virginity she made to her dying mother. DAVID HATED IT = "it's not ennobling and not a classical subject but a contemporary, sentimental subject." Classical subjects were required for Prix de Rome, which David espoused to all his students. This painting wasn't it!