Jacques Louis David was both a genuine artist as well as an apologist and propagandist for violence. Genuine means to be actual, real, or true and David’s art displays this well. David wanted France to snap out of its slow decline into decadence and instead enter a golden age. He believed France could achieve this by striving to be more like the Roman republic. At first, he stood by the side of the royal family, even offering to paint portraits of them. However, when the revolution began to take off David swiftly switched sides. This is made evident when he paints Marat as a saint literally bathing in blood. In reality, Marat was a paranoid, trying to send anyone he deemed as a “false patriot” to the guillotine. However, David portrays Marat
