Currently not on view
The Death of Socrates,
after 1787
David depicts Socrates about to drink hemlock rather than endure exile after being convicted by the Athenian government of subverting the local youth with his teachings. Disciples surround their principled friend, bidding him an emotional farewell. The theme was a potent one in the France of 1787, where Socrates was a hero to those seeking political and economic reforms.
Exhibited at the Salon of 1787, the signed version of The Death of Socrates (Metropolitan Museum of Art) was an immediate success. This rough canvas appears to be a copy, possibly executed by David and his students as a teaching tool. The left section is nearly complete; on the right, paint is peeled back to reveal layers of unresolved underpainting. This factor makes firm identification difficult. It has been tantalizingly argued that the least finished portions are by David himself, an inversion of the normal workshop practice in which students prepared the foundation layers before the master applied his brush.
More About This Object
Information
after 1787
Oil on canvas
133 × 196 cm (52 3/8 × 77 3/16 in.)
frame: 160.7 × 225.6 × 13.7 cm (63 1/4 × 88 13/16 × 5 3/8 in.)
Museum purchase, gift of Carl D. Reimers
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1982", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 42, no. 1 (1983): p. 50-70., p. 69
- Alan Wintermute, et. al., 1789: French art during the Revolution, (New York: Colnaghi, 1989)., no. 9, p. 113-119; p. 114, pl. 9
- Thomas Crow, "Une maniere de travailler in the Studio of David", Parachute revue d'art contemporain 56 (Oct., Nov., Dec., 1989). , p. 48-49 (illus.)
- Paul Spencer-Longhurst, "Book reviews: a fundamental shift in French painting" Apollo 132, no. 342 (Aug. 1, 1990): p. 128-130., p. 129
- Bernadette Fort, Fictions of the French Revolution, (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991)., p. 57, fig. 2; p. 55
- Garry Apgar, "Jacques-Louis David (1785-1825) ... a critical view", Apollo 137, no. 375 (May 1, 1993): p. 304-306., p. 306, note 10
- Thomas E. Crow, Emulation: making artists for revolutionary France, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995)., p. 100, fig. 76, fig. 77; p. 100-102
- Thomas Eugene Crow, L'Atelier de David: Emulation et Révolution, (Paris?: Gallimard, 1995)., pl. 33 (color); p. 123
- Jobert Barthelemy, "[Review] Thomas Crow, L'Atelier de David. Emulation et Révolution", Revue de l'art 126, no. 1 (1999): p. 92., p. 92
- Claudia Einecke and Pierre Rosenberg, Final moments: Peyron, David, and "The Death of Socrates", (Omaha, NE: Joslyn Art Museum, 2001)., cat. no. 2; p. 31; Within Rosenberg essay: p. 12-15; p. 30 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 152, p. 153 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 286
- Thelma Althshuler and Richard Janaro, The Art of Behing Human: The Humanities as a Technique for Living, 11th edition (Boston: Pearson College Division, 2016).
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