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The Death of Socrates
Jacques-Louis David · Rococo & Neoclassicism
- Artist
- Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825)
- Date
- 1787
- Dimensions
- 129.5 x 196.2 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
The Death of Socrates shows the Athenian philosopher in prison in 399 BC, condemned to death for corrupting youth and impiety. Calm and upright on his bed, he reaches for the cup of poison hemlock while continuing to teach his grieving disciples.
A closer look
Socrates, bare-chested and muscular despite being seventy, raises one finger heavenwards as he speaks of the immortality of the soul, while his other hand reaches for the cup without looking at it. Around him the disciples despair: a young man covers his face, others weep against the wall, and the servant who hands over the poison turns away in anguish. At the foot of the bed sits Plato, old and withdrawn, though he was actually absent. The clear, frieze-like composition and the message of dying for one's principles made the painting a model of Neoclassicism on the eve of the French Revolution.
History of the painting
David painted the picture for Charles-Louis Trudaine de Montigny, a wealthy young magistrate, and it stayed in French private collections for well over a century. In 1931 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York bought it, and it is now one of the best-known French paintings in America.
