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| View Original: | David and studio, Jacques-Louis, The Death of Socrates, after 1787.jpg (2000x1348) | |||
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| Keywords: David and studio, Jacques-Louis, The Death of Socrates, after 1787.jpg Artwork Creator Jacques-Louis David and studio Catalogue Entry This is an unfinished replica of David ™s Death of Socrates Salon of 1787; Metropolitan Museum of Art New York The left section is nearly complete lacking only bars on the window and decoration on a robe To the right the paint layers are peeled back progressively so the underpainting is revealed in less and less finished layers There have been attempts to attribute the replica to a David student and to explain why it is unfinished Perhaps the most convincing argument has been put forth by the scholar Thomas Crow who has asserted that the finished parts are by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson 1767 “1824 and that the canvas was painted as a demonstration for students Crow has even attributed the least finished portion to David himself in a revolutionary reversal of normal workshop procedure in which students prepare the underlayers and the master applies the final touches The work is a perfect teaching tool like an anatomical model that peels away layers of skin fat and muscle finally to reveal bones and the painting likely served that purpose in the studio of David despite the lack of any mention of it in the texts of the time David ™s celebrated composition depicts ÂSocrates about to drink the poison that the Athenian state decreed as his punishment for subverting the youths of the city with his philoÂsophical interrogations His disciples bid him adieu In 1787 Socrates was a model to those who wished to reform France ™s government along the lines suggested by the contemporary Âphilosophes who were themselves subject to censorship and persecution Gallery Label 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 after 1787 Oil on canvas Size cm 133 196 <br> frame Size cm 160 5 225 6 11 Institution Princeton University Art Museum European Art object history Private collection London until 1982 ; Colnaghi New York in 1982; sold to Princeton University Art Museum exhibition history credit line Museum purchase gift of Carl D Reimers accession number y1982-82 place of creation Princeton University Art Museum PD-old-100 1825 cite book Steward James Christen Princeton University Art Museum Handbook of the Collections Revised and Expanded Edition 2013 Princeton University Art Museum Princeton NJ 978-0943012414 2nd 208 cite web The Death of Socrates y1982-82 http //artmuseum princeton edu/collections/objects/32792 Princeton University Art Museum French paintings in the Princeton University Art Museum 1787 The Death of Socrates Jacques-Louis David Unfinished paintings | ||||
