On June 24th of this year, a fateful decision was made. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, an outcry of women went on the streets to protest the overturn of the lawsuit. Roe v. Wade was decided 49 years ago on the 22nd of June. When Jane Roe had abortion in Texas and was prosecuted, it went all the way up to the Supreme Court and it was a 7 against 2, Jane Roe had won and having abortion was legal all over the country, until the 24th of June this year that is.
Most of you probably are asking right now “Wait, so what does this have to do with a painting?” The painting of choice was French painter Jacques-Louis David’s 1789 “The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of His Sons.” The painting depicts the Roman leader at the time, Lucius Junius Brutus on the left, in the shadows while the officers of Rome are carrying one of his son’s corpses away and you can only see the corpse’s feet. More to the right you see a trio of women grieving the death, those people are Brutus’s wife and two daughters. The story goes that Brutus’s sons tried to overtake the Roman government, so Brutus killed them for treason.
Because it was Brutus who was hailed the hero for protecting the government and taking sacrifices, most people give their attention to him, but some women see it differently, they focus on the women grieving. The women were depicted very stereotypically, the women were weak and don’t want to take sacrifices. But the other people see that the women on the right are giving their bodies over to anger, shock and grief that doesn’t look weak, but brave. How through feelings, they seemed to have claimed their own bodies. That is how this paint is related to Roe v. Wade, Women unable to claim their own bodies, for the people wondering. We can see and almost feel the painting not shameful, but brave, not full of grief, but courageously facing the pain of losing a loved one. Facing the fact that you won’t see someone ever again and now, facing the reality of being unable to control your own body, you, yourself not even able to control.
Most of you probably are asking right now “Wait, so what does this have to do with a painting?” The painting of choice was French painter Jacques-Louis David’s 1789 “The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of His Sons.” The painting depicts the Roman leader at the time, Lucius Junius Brutus on the left, in the shadows while the officers of Rome are carrying one of his son’s corpses away and you can only see the corpse’s feet. More to the right you see a trio of women grieving the death, those people are Brutus’s wife and two daughters. The story goes that Brutus’s sons tried to overtake the Roman government, so Brutus killed them for treason.
Because it was Brutus who was hailed the hero for protecting the government and taking sacrifices, most people give their attention to him, but some women see it differently, they focus on the women grieving. The women were depicted very stereotypically, the women were weak and don’t want to take sacrifices. But the other people see that the women on the right are giving their bodies over to anger, shock and grief that doesn’t look weak, but brave. How through feelings, they seemed to have claimed their own bodies. That is how this paint is related to Roe v. Wade, Women unable to claim their own bodies, for the people wondering. We can see and almost feel the painting not shameful, but brave, not full of grief, but courageously facing the pain of losing a loved one. Facing the fact that you won’t see someone ever again and now, facing the reality of being unable to control your own body, you, yourself not even able to control.
