The ideal of public art fostered by Jacques-Louis David was embraced by painters in France and Spain in the period 1780 to
1830. This was a
political art, based on the ideals of the Enlightenment, which engaged in criticism or praise of the state. But in this extremely volatile period shifts in
politics, transformations of the state, and changes of leaders in the two countries meant that this highly political art did not always meet David's ideal. Depending on the state of politics the times could call for praise or blame of the leadership or would allow more or less explicit critiques by painters.