Jacques Louis David Analysis

David depicts the last moments of Socrates’s life. He is surrounded by the people who believe and love him; these people include his wife/family and followers. His students are unhappy, some are looking away others are holding their face in disbelief and despair. He is seated up in the middle of his bed reaching for the cup holding the poison that is supposed to kill him and is speaking or teaching to his students. You can see in the background past the archway his wife leaving the scene being escorted up the stairs so she won’t have to witness her husband’s death.

Socrates was a philosopher who taught his devoted pupils the importance and methods to obtain knowledge and ethics. He was an anti-democratic philosopher who disagreed with how society was run and turned many people in the city against him. He was sentenced to death by the Athenian court for being guilty of “corrupting the youth” and “refusing to recognize the gods recognized by

Jacques uses realistic style and stays true to the proportions of the real word. You can get a glimpse of how true these proportions are by looking at Socrates himself. His improperly fastened toga falls on to his lap to reveal his proper form and toned body. His arm that is reaching for the cup of poison and his relaxed leg that extends on the bed have muscle definition even at rest. David also uses representational style; the viewer is able to recognize with certainty the objects that were painted in scene because it exists in the real world. Neoclassicism is the movement style David uses to guide his work. Some characteristics of the movement style was to draw narratives with large groups of people, and flashy drapery, which are all apparent in The Death of Socrates. Neo-classical art was also a period style taking place during the French revolution. During the last years of the French revolution neo-classical art