Shop art print and framed art The death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David

The Death of Socrates was painted by the French artist Jacques-Louis David in 1787. It depicts the death of the Greek philosopher Socrates, who was condemned by the Athenians to drink the hemlock. The painting was commissioned from David by Charles-Michel Trudaine de la Sablière. It was first exhibited at the Salon de peinture et de sculpture in 1787, alongside another painting on the same subject by Pierre Peyron. It is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Before the mid-eighteenth century, Socrates was a subject rarely treated in painting, and his death even less so. At the end of the 1740s, however, mainly under the impetus of critics and the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, a desire emerged to make history painting more moral, in contrast to the lightness of mythological subjects, as depicted by François Boucher, for example. The Royal School of Protected Pupils also contributed to the emergence of the figure of Socrates as an example of virtue. The main medium for history lessons at this school was Charles Rollin's Histoire ancienne, which devoted a great deal of space to the life of Socrates. The text was accompanied by engravings by Hubert-François Gravelot, which influenced many later painters, including David. It was in this context that the death of Socrates became a pictorial theme. Michel-François Dandré-Bardon presented a painting on the subject at the Salon of 1753 (now lost) and Charles-Michel-Ange Challe at the Salon of 1761. [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the neoclassicism style.

 

Find the full description of The death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David on Wikipedia.