Political and cultural history and the arts combine in this engaging account of 1790s France. In 1799, when the French artist Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) exhibited his Intervention of the Sabines, a history painting featuring the ancient heroine Hersilia, he added portraits of two contemporary women on either side of her--Henriette de Verninac, daughter of Charles-Fran?ois Delacroix, minister of foreign affairs, and Juliette...