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french first republicconcept:era modern

Death of Marat

Oil on canvas (1793) by Jacques-Louis David. Depicts Jean-Paul Marat, assassinated in his medicinal bath by Charlotte Corday. Painted within weeks of the event as political propaganda and secular martyrdom image. Held at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.

Scholarly Significance

Anchor the political dimension of French Revolutionary painting with David's Death of Marat (1793), the most powerful political painting of the 18th century.

Notes

  • ·Painted in late 1793, within about four months of Marat's assassination on 13 July 1793.
  • ·David was personally acquainted with Marat and visited him the day before his murder.
  • ·The composition deliberately avoids showing Corday or the wound; it focuses entirely on the tranquil figure of the martyr.
  • ·The wooden box substitutes for a conventional classical altar or pedestal; the inscription reads 'À Marat, David' (To Marat, David).
  • ·After the fall of Robespierre (Thermidorian Reaction, 1794), the painting fell out of official favour; David recovered it from the Convention.
  • ·Passed through David's estate to his heirs in Brussels; sold to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in 1886.
  • ·Considered by many historians the greatest political painting ever made.