Crow approaches the painting that was done in France at the end of the eighteenth century from a point of view as rigorous as it is brilliant: the relationships between the various "disciples" who worked in David's studio, who distanced themselves from him, maintained contact and , in one way or another, emulated him and emulated each other. These relationships are not, however, strictly personal, since they affect artistic creation, the configuration of models and the development of stories no less than political activity and the social and professional situation of artists. The author has provided himself with a special acuity to describe the fabric that weaves the political and intellectual history of the revolutionary years, its cultural and iconographic demands, the cult of the hero and the problems raised by the use of violence, as well as its European projection. .
The works of David, Dronais, Girodet, Fabre, those of Gros and Gerard, Guérin, those of Géricault, analyzed with the care that characterizes Crow, are perceived here in a different and illuminating light: in their deep relationship with the world in they arise, they never lose the autonomy that is proper to them.