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| The Death of Socrates |
Artist:
Jacques Louis David (French, Paris 1748–1825 Brussels)
Date:
1787
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
51 x 77 1/4 in. (129.5 x 196.2 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1931
The Athenian courts executed the Greek philosopher Socrates (469–399 B.C.) for the crime of impiety: his behavior toward the gods was judged to have been irreverent, and he had exerted a corrupting influence on his young male followers. Socrates declined to renounce his beliefs and died willingly, discoursing on the immortality of the soul before drinking from the cup of poisonous hemlock. In a prison of unrelieved severity, David depicted a frieze of carefully articulated figures in antique costume acting out in the language of gesture the last moments of the moral philosopher’s life. Because, shortly before the onset of the French revolution, the painting gave expression to the principle of resisting unjust authority, it is among David’s most important works. The canvas is also his most perfect statement of the Neoclassical style.
Provenance
Charles Michel Trudaine de la Sablière, Paris (until d. 1794; revolutionary inv., as "composition de 13 figures," estimated at 10,000 livres); his sister-in-law, Louise Micault de Courbeton, Madame Trudaine de Montigny (1794–d. 1802); her brother, Lubin Marie Micault de Courbeton (1802–d. 1809); his cousin, Armand Maximilien François Joseph Olivier de Saint-Georges, 5th Marquis de Vérac (1809–d. 1858); his widow, Euphémie de Noailles, Marquise de Vérac (1858–d. 1870); her son-in-law, Adolphe, Comte de Rougé (1870–d. 1871; his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 8, 1872, no. 1, for Fr 17,600, to Bianchi); Marius Bianchi, Paris (1872–d. 1904); Mathilde Jeanin, Madame Marius Bianchi (1904–1913 or after); their daughters, Renée, Vicomtesse Fleury, Thérèse, Comtesse Murat, and Solange, Marquise de Ludre-Frolois (until 1931; sold through Walter Pach to The Met)
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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