 Aside from the exceptional painters that Diderot admired, such as Greuze and Chardin, the eighteenth century saw a rivalry between two predominant styles, rococo and neoclassicism. Rococo artists such as François Boucher tended to depict scenes of flirtation in rich interiors or pastoral settings, which detractors scorned as effeminate. Rococo artists sometimes chose mythological subjects and neoclassical painters did as well, but the latter inserted overtly didactic messages. Philosophers such as Diderot praised this latter style because it would instill more of a virile sense of patriotism among the populace. One could see the works of Jacques-Louis David, during the Revolution, as the ultimate conflation of classical subjects, images of traditionally manly virtue, and messages of national pride. French interest in Antiquity had been constant throughout the Ancien Régime, but it was further enriched by the dissemination of printed images of archaeological sites in Athens, Pompeii, and other cities in which new discoveries had been made.