The Death of Socrates

THE DEATH OF SOCRATES—JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID
Researched by Rochelle Almeida

31.45
Artist: Jacques-Louis David (French 1748-1825)
Oil on Canvas
51 X 77 ¼ in.
France, 1787

What is the Story Depicted in the Painting:
It features, as its central character, the Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 BCE), who was accused by the Athenian government of denying the gods and corrupting the young. Imprisoned by the authorities, Socrates was offered the choice of recanting his teachings or accepting the finality of death by swallowing a cup of hemlock. David depicts Socrates at the moment of his death, calmly accepting the poison that will put an end to his life, but continuing with his last breath to stand steadfastly by his convictions as he preaches to his attendant disciples. The execution took place at the Agora jail in 399 BC at the end of a long day that Socrates had spent discussing the immortality of the soul with his disciples.
Who was the artist?
This arresting oil on canvas was painted in 1787 by Jacques-Louis David, considered the foremost French painter immediately prior to the French Revolution. The fact that it depicts the consequences of standing up for one’s beliefs and was completed a mere two years before the outbreak of the French Revolution, has led critics to assume that it contains a propagandist motive and that David was suggesting how important it was to fearlessly stand up for what one believed to be right.  When the French Revolution broke out, individual principles would indeed be severely tested against the popular views of the bourgeoisie.
Socrates’ Stance:
There has been a great amount of comment on the figure of Socrates and the stance in which David has portrayed him.  Not only is he the central figure on the canvas, but with one hand, he reaches out to accept the cup of poison, while the other hand is held up in the gesture of a preacher. This denotes that even at the moment of death, he was unafraid about espousing his teachings and did not flinch from its finality. The hand gesture suggests that Socrates was asking his disciples whether or not he should make a libation to the gods out of the cup. In other words, he suggests that perhaps he ought to pray to the gods for a safe journey into Hades.
David had several sources of inspiration for the depiction of Socrates.  But, overall, he has painted him magnificently in Neo-Classical style, with every detail of his anatomy quite splendidly portrayed. In the time of ancient Greece, what we call the Classical Period, statues were depicted as expression of human perfection.  Therefore, they were idealized in the magnificence of their anatomical details.  The eighteenth century borrowed this ideology and philosophy of aesthetic perfection from the Greeks and reproduced it in their works of art.  Therefore, their revival of this style was called the New Classical or Neo-Classical and David was one of its most well known exponents. Thus, Socrates is portrayed as a heroic nude. Though his intention was obviously to remain realistic, David seems to have gone overboard in painting the anatomy of Socrates with such perfection (bulging biceps, firm taut abs!) for the philosopher was an old man during this stage in his life and could hardly have been so well endowed physically! But, his muscular torso resembles statues of Greek heroes and athletes, thereby symbolizing Socrates great moral strength and virtue.
Visual and Aesthetic Elements:
The figure of Socrates seems to divide the canvas in half.  On the left side, one sees shades of darkness and gloom.  Characters are only dimly portrayed.  The grieving group ascending the stairs in the background is said to be led by Xantepe, Socrates’ wife, who has just bid her husband farewell.  The darkness of this side could symbolize the loss of knowledge that the world would endure after Socrates died. On the right side of the canvas, more color dominates in the garments of the mourning disciples, though these colors too are ‘greyed’, symbolizing their subdued mood on the death of their teacher.
One is struck by the realistic detail of the composition. Notice the cold dampness of the walls and floor of the dungeon depicted through the use of gloomy grey.  Notice the raw redness of the bare feet of Socrates and his attendants, as also the bulging calves and the protruding veins on their legs and feet.  As if to confirm that he is indeed in a dungeon, we see the shackles that have just been removed from his feet and the bars at the high windows.
Secondary Figures:
The group of disciples on the right side of the canvas is also very striking.  They are seen openly mourning the death of their beloved master.  David makes their distress clear by depicting them as clinging for strength to one another, wailing openly and breaking into tears.  One is struck by their rather elderly appearance, but then one realizes that the Greeks did not waste education on youth—or indeed on women!  They are sorry to see their teacher go, but are powerless to prevent his death.  David has portrayed them dressed in the garments of the Classical Greek period.
As a contrast, at the foot of the bed sits Plato, dispassionate and composed.  He seems to have learned well from his master that one has to accept with serenity the inevitable—that which cannot be cured, must be endured. Plato, Socrates’ best-known disciple was born in 427 BC, so he would have been only 28 years old at the time of Socrates’ death.  However, he is deliberately portrayed as greyed and elderly to symbolize his traumatic suffering and his silent grief.  His pensive silence denotes his profound, melancholic meditation.  Socrates’ last moments on earth are known to us through the pen of Plato.
General and Concluding Comments:
David believed that art should portray life as closely as possible and so there are no brush strokes at all to suggest that this might be a painting.  This explains why the picture was an immense success at the Salon of 1787 (Cantinelli).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bailey, Colin B.  The Loves of the Gods:  Mythological Paintings from Watteau to David, New York, 1992, pp. 509-510.
Cantinelli, R.  Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825. 1930, pp. 24, 104.
Holma, K.  David:  Son Evolution et Son Style. 1940, pp. 50.
Kimmelman, Michael.  “At the Met with Leon Golub and Nancy Spero”.  New York Times (January 5, 1966), p. C5.
Mantz, P.  Exposition en faveur de l’oeuvre des Alsaciens et Lorrains, Gaz, des B-A, per. 2, X, 1874, pp. 200-202.
Robin, l’A.  L’Ami des artistes au sallon, 1787, p. 36-38.
Rosenblum, R. Transformations in Late Eighteenth Century Art, 1967, pp. 73-76, 103, 125.
Rousseau, T, Jr. “A Guide to the Picture Galleries”, M.M.A. Bulletin, XII, part 2, January 1954, pp 6, 45.
Sterling, C. A Catalogue of French Paintings XV-XVIII Centuries, M.M.A. 1955, pp. 191-196.
Zafran, E.M.  The Rococo Age:  French Masterpieces of the Eighteenth Century. Exh. Cat. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1988, p. 92.

Click to continue the tour to the Asian Gallery to see the Standing Gupta Buddha.