Consider Gentileschi's Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes and David's The Oath of the Horatii. These paintings represent idealized visions of heroic figures in two different cultures. Explain the political and social forces that influenced their form and content.

What will be an ideal response?

Gentileschi's Judith takes its subject matter from the biblical story of Judith, an Israelite widow who volunteered heroically to rescue her people from the Assyrian general Holofernes. Employing the Baroque style, Gentileschi focuses on the moments after Judith decapitates Holofernes. She lights the figures dramatically and plunges the backgrounds into shadow. As a painter of the French Revolution, David's painting displays the political implications of great patriotism in The Oath of the Horatii. The painting depicts the story of three brothers who take an oath to sacrifice themselves in defense of their city. David organizes the composition with geometric precision, employing light from the left of the composition, which emphasizes mass and volume.