As becoming a classicist David had strong faith that art must be useful to his contemporaries. The progressive philosophes were enthusiastic about the classical antiquity by reflecting ancient spirit in their society, and David who was close to them inherited and developed classicism both in style and content actively. David's idea that art ought to contribute to the progress of the human spirit gave rise to resistance against the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The Royal Academy was the despotic power system which suppressed the freedom of artists to satisfy autocrats. David's hostility to the Royal Academy promoted his progressive inclination to the more radical one, and led him to tie up with revolutionists. The revolutionists wanted to form a new society and David desired eagerly to establish ideal surroundings as an artist. That is, David's interests were in accord with theirs. Finally, the Royal Academy was broke up by David's effort. In doing so, he reformed and dominated the art of his own day and became a revolutionary artist. David sympathized with revolutionary generation in a religious viewpoint. David planned the Fête of the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being was a kind of god created by the revolutionary government. For the person who looked forward to establishing a new state, the traditional Catholic was the typical power system which suppressed the people by preaching them to obey. David and the leaders of the French Revolution, however, did not deny god and religion itself. The revolutionary government took the position that a religion was necessary to unite the people and to secure social stability. David joined the Theophilanthrophy. It was an all-embracing religion for the people which proclaimed the existence of god and the immortality of the soul and preached tolerance and the importance of one's duty to one's fellow man. It could make sure that David's political activities and his view of art were inseparably related to each other. By accepting classicism David realized the social importance of art and got a progressive idea at the same time. As he got more radical thought, his concern moved away from canvas. Needless to say, David's inclination to politics and desire for power can not be eliminated in referring to his social participation. The substantial aspect of his sense of social participation, however, was his desire to develop artistic capacity in a society given a guarantee of the individual freedom.

본 연구는 슈만의 상상 속에 존재한 “다비드동맹”의 탄생 배경과 그 명칭의 유래에 대한 연 구이다. 이에 관해서는 이미 주목할만한 선행연구들이 있다. 하지만 본 논문에서는 기존의 연구에서 각 저자들마다 언급하고 있는 “다비드동맹”의 ‘모델들’의 근거와 주장은 무엇인지 를 비판적 시각으로 검토하고, 그 주장의 혼선이 어디에서 비롯되었는가를 고찰하며, 철저한 근거 제시 없는 선행연구의 인용의 반복을 반박함으로써 다음의 결론을 도출하였다. “다비 드동맹” 탄생의 직접적인 배경은 호프만의 『세라피온 형제들』(Serapionsbrüder) 및 비더 마이어 시기의 문예클럽, 특히 라이프치히의 “프라이쎄강의 터널”(Tunnel über der Pleisse) 이다. 이와 함께 이 클럽의 구성원이자, 훗날 당시의 정치적·사회적 운동이던 “청년유 럽”(Junges Europa)의 지부인 “청년독일”(Das junge Deutschland)의 구성원이 되는 슈만의 동료, 그중에서 특히 뤼헤(Lühe)와 헤르로쓰존(Herlosssohn)과 라우베(Heinrich Laube)의 자극이 슈만의 “다비드동맹” 탄생에 일정한 역할을 한 것으로 여겨진다.