How did The Intervention of the Sabine Women express a message of reconciliation?

In his 1799 painting The Intervention of the Sabine Women, Jacques-Louis David utilized a classical narrative to convey a message of reconciliation following a decade of violent upheaval in France.1

The painting depicts the moment when Sabine women, who had become contented wives and mothers after their abduction, intervene to halt a battle between their Roman husbands and the Sabine men attempting to rescue them. By centering the composition on the figure of Hersilia—who appeals simultaneously to the Roman leader Romulus and the Sabine leader Tatius—David emphasized the possibility of peace and unity between warring factions.1

This thematic focus was widely interpreted as a call for national healing, as the artist sought to move away from the "crude" militancy of his earlier work, such as the Oath of the Horatii, toward a more graceful, conciliatory tone intended to address the "bloodletting" that had characterized the French Revolution.12