The overall design of this image reflects a Neoclassical sense of composition and a Renaissance sense of perspective.

The picture plane is arranged in a sculptural frieze like band that takes its cue from antique sculptural friezes such as those found on the Ara Pacis and the Parthenon.  Like its classical counterparts, the image is constructed so that most of the figures are placed in the foreground and even though there is the creation of deep space, the background is not as important as the figures. 

It is also classic in that the composition is arranged symmetrically with the most important figure, proclaiming the oath, in the center.  The use of perspective also focusses on this figure.

David's work also exhibits a Caravaggesque flair for chiaroscuro and tenebrism.

Iconography:  Stokstad goes into the specific story of the Curattii and the Horatii and so this next section will be dedicated to some other aspects of the image.

The super realistic quality of this image is meant to make it a convincing and serious image.  Likewise other formal aspects such as lighting, texture and composition are iconic in this image.

The use of classical imagery, such as the togas and arches, and a story that deals specifically with self sacrifice for the state allowed this painting to be used as a "call to arms" for the French Revolution that followed.  The classical clothing and arches referred to a tradition that was considered more dignified than the light classical themes expressed in paintings like Watteau's.

The lighting and the frieze like placement of the figures are equally a part of the iconography of this image because these formal elements directly refer to those classical traditions.  Compare Watteau's style of painting and see how the formal qualities of each actually are part of the iconography.

The individuals being represented are also all physically beautiful and this refers to the classical concept of kalos (Greek for beautiful and moral.)

Another aspect of this image is the depiction of women in this painting which seems consistent with the depiction of the "Other" in the two history paintings we've looked at.  The woman who are betrothed to the soldiers and the children have the most to lose and they are also the least powerful.  This is expressed through there placement, below the horizon line in the picture plane.  Like West's Native American they are literally beneath every one else and relegated to the margins of the scene.

The picture plane is arranged symmetrically with the most important figure, proclaiming the oath, in the center.  The use of perspective also focusses on this figure.

Iconography:  This painting was meant to be a patriotic call to arms but was never completed because the cast of characters kept changing and David was probably unsure as to how to complete it.  There is an unfinished oil version of it.
 

This amazingly rich sketch by Jacques Louis David is one of the most famous works from the French revolutionary era. The thrust of the bodies together and toward the center stand for unity. The spectators, including children at the top right, all join the spectators. Even the clergy, so villified later, join in the scene. Only one person, possibly Marat, in the upper left–hand corner, turns his back on the celebration. And, in fact, David is commemorating a great moment of the Revolution on 20 June 1789, in which the deputies, mainly those of the Third Estate, now proclaiming that they represent the nation, stand together against a threatened dispersal. 

http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/633/

THE RIACE BRONZE c460-450 BCE  Classical Greek  bronze w/ bone, glass paste,  silver & copper inlaid,h. 200cm  Reggio Calabria: Museo Nazionale

Horatio Greenough  George Washington (1804) American Neoclassical

Raphael School of Athens 1509-1510
fresco

Horatio Greenough 
George Washington (1804)
American Neoclassical

The picture plane is arranged in a sculptural frieze like band that takes its cue from antique sculptural friezes such as those found on the Ara Pacis and the Parthenon.  Like its classical counterparts, the image is constructed so that most of the figures are placed in the foreground and even though there is the creation of deep space, the background is not as important as the figures. 

It is also classic in that the composition is arranged symmetrically with the most important figure, proclaiming the oath, in the center.  The use of perspective also focusses on this figure.

David's work also exhibits a Caravaggesque flair for chiaroscuro and tenebrism.

Iconography:  This image uses all of the classical iconography we see in Oath of the Horattii but David adds to it by depicting Socrates as bearded and aged but with a youthful and beautiful torso much like The Young Warrior from Riace (c 460-450 BCE).  The juxtaposition of the beard which symbolizes youth against the body, which symbolizes kalos (Greek for beautiful and moral.)  Is a way of portraying Socrates as an ideal philosopher.  Davis also quotes Raphael's School of Athens to demonstrate that Socrates is dying for a higher ideal. Notice that even in America this same iconography was used for this portrait of George Washington.

The story of the Socrates death is extremely relevant and echoes many of the same qualities and aspects of David's Oath.  Socrates who lived in Athens in the fifth century was one of the greatest philosophers to have lived.  Primarily his function was to teach the aristocratic youths of Athens how to think and he did this by asking his students questions.  The types of questions he asked were consistently those of the "why" variety in which he often challenged the status quo.  For this and other reasons he was accused of treason by the Athenians.  The accusation leveled at him was that he was corrupting the youth of Athens with his credo "question authority."

According to the Brittanica,

In 399 Socrates was indicted for "impiety." The author of the proceedings was the influential Anytus, one of the two chiefs of the democrats restored by the counterrevolution of 403; but the nominal prosecutor was the obscure and insignificant Meletus. There were two counts in the accusation, "corruption of the young" and "neglect of the gods whom the city worships and the practice of religious novelties." Socrates, who treated the charge with contempt and made a "defense" that amounts to avowal and justification, was convicted, probably by 280 votes against 220. The prosecutors had asked for the penalty of death; it now rested with the accused to make a counterproposition. Though a smaller, but substantial, penalty would have been accepted, Socrates took the high line that he really merited the treatment of an eminent benefactor: maintenance at the public table. He consented only for form's sake to suggest the small fine of one mina, raised at the entreaty of his friends to 30.

The claim to be a public benefactor incensed the court, and death was voted by an increased majority, a result with which Socrates declared himself well content. As a rule at Athens, the condemned man "drank the hemlock" within 24 hours, but, in the case of Socrates, the fact that no execution could take place during the absence of the sacred ship sent yearly to Delos caused an unexpected delay of a month, during which Socrates remained in prison, receiving his friends daily and conversing with them in his usual manner. An escape was planned by his friend Crito, but Socrates refused to hear of it, on the grounds that the verdict, though contrary to fact, was that of a legitimate court and must therefore be obeyed. The story of his last day, with his drinking of the hemlock, has been perfectly told in the Phaedo of Plato, who, though not himself an eyewitness, was in close touch with many of those who were present.
Copyright © 1994-2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Iconography:  David's use of light is exceptionally symbolic in this image in which he uses an unearthly light similar to the way Caravaggio used light in his Conversion of St. Paul 1601 although in this image, Marat is identified as a Christ like martyr which is probably furthest from the truth.

Context: According to the Brittanica, 
 

On July 13, Charlotte Corday, a young Girondin supporter from Normandy, was admitted to Marat's room on the pretext that she wished to claim his protection and stabbed him to death in his bath (he took frequent medicinal baths to relieve a skin infection). Marat's dramatic murder at the very moment of the Montagnards' triumph over their opponents caused him to be considered a martyr to the people's cause. His name was given to 21 French towns and, later, as a gesture symbolizing the continuity between the French and Russian revolutions, to one of the first battleships in the Soviet Navy.

Stele of Hegeso
c.410-400 BC, Marble, 5'9"
Athens. Classic Greek

The picture plane is arranged in a sculptural frieze like band that takes its cue from antique sculptural friezes such as those found on the Ara Pacis and the Parthenon.  Like its classical counterparts, the image is constructed so that most of the figures are placed in the foreground and even though there is the creation of deep space, the background is not as important as the figures. 

Stokstad goes into the specific story of the Cornelia and the Gracchii and so this next section will be dedicated to some other aspects of the image.

The use of classical imagery, such as the togas and columns, and a story that deals specifically with self sacrifice for the generations of the future.  The classical clothing and arches referred to a tradition that was considered more dignified than the light classical themes expressed in paintings like Watteau's.

The lighting and the frieze like placement of the figures are equally a part of the iconography of this image because these formal elements directly refer to those classical traditions.  Compare Watteau's style of painting and see how the formal qualities of each actually are part of the iconography.

The individuals being represented are also all physically beautiful and this refers to the classical concept of kalos (Greek for beautiful and moral.)

In a twist on the classical vocabulary found in the Stele of Hegeso Kauffman corrects the iconography and updates it.  The prescribed role of woman is specifically expressed in this image as that of a mother rather than a selfish woman who cares only for jewels.  This philosophy is very much in keeping with Rousseau's ideas concerning that of the "happy mother" and in her depiction of Cornelia she is almost changing the meaning of the image found on the stele.

Context: According to the Brittanica, Kauffman was,

 
b. Oct. 30, 1741, Chur, Switz.
d. Nov. 5, 1807, Rome, Papal States [Italy] 
in full MARIA ANNA CATHARINA ANGELICA KAUFFMANN painter in the early Neoclassical style who is best known for her decorative wall paintings for residences designed by Robert Adam.
The daughter of Johann Joseph Kauffmann, a painter, Angelica was a precocious child and a talented musician and painter by her 12th year. Her early paintings were influenced by the French Rococo works of Henri Gravelot and François Boucher. In 1754 and 1763 she visited Italy, and while in Rome she was influenced by the Neoclassicism of Anton Raphael Mengs.

She was induced by Lady Wentworth, wife of the English ambassador, to accompany her to London in 1766. She was well received and was particularly favoured by the royal family. Sir Joshua Reynolds became a close friend, and most of the numerous portraits and self-portraits done in her English period were influenced by his style of portrait painting. Her name is found among the signatories to the petition for the establishment of the Royal Academy, and in its first catalogue of 1769 she is listed as a member. During the 1770s Kauffmann was one of a team of artists who supplied the painted decorations for Adam-designed interiors (e.g., the house at 20 Portman Square, London; now the Courtauld Institute Galleries). Kauffmann retired to Rome in the early 1780s with her second husband, the Venetian painter Antonio Zucchi.

Kauffmann's pastoral and mythological compositions portray gods and goddesses in a delicate and graceful if somewhat insipid fashion. Her paintings are Rococo in tone and approach, though her figures are given Neoclassical poses and draperies. Kauffmann's portraits of female sitters are among her finest works.
 

Copyright © 1994-2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The figure in the foreground is finished and she reclines in a Roman style dress on a Roman style couch that interior designers now call the Recamier.  The background shows the splotchy burnt siennas and umbers that David started with in order to build up the surfaces to an almost photographic and slick surface.

Iconography:  This portrait uses the Neoclassical style to elevate the importance of the sitter and give her a more authoritative quality.  It also refers to the sitter's taste.

Context: According to the Brittanica Madame Recamier was,

b. Dec. 4, 1777, Lyon
d. May 11, 1849, Paris  
née Bernard, byname MADAME DE RÉCAMIER French hostess of great charm and wit whose salon attracted most of the important political and literary figures of early 19th-century Paris.