The Death of Marat (original) (raw)

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1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David

The Death of Marat
French: La Mort de Marat
Artist Jacques-Louis David
Year 1793
Medium Oil on canvas
Movement Neoclassicism
Dimensions 162 cm × 128 cm (64 in × 50 in)
Location Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

The Death of Marat (French: La Mort de Marat or Marat Assassiné) is a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting the artist's friend and murdered French revolutionary leader, Jean-Paul Marat.[1] One of the most famous images from the era of the French Revolution, it was painted when David was the leading French Neoclassical painter, a Montagnard, and a member of the revolutionary Committee of General Security. Created in the months after Marat's death, the painting shows Marat lying dead in his bath after his assassination by Charlotte Corday on 13 July 1793.[2]

In 2001, art historian T. J. Clark called David's painting the first modernist work for "the way it took the stuff of politics as its material, and did not transmute it".[3]

The painting is in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium. A replica, created by the artist's studio, is on display at the Louvre.[4]

The assassination of Marat

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Jean-Paul Marat (24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was one of the leaders of the Montagnards, a radical faction active during the French Revolution from the Reign of Terror to the Thermidorian Reaction. Marat was stabbed to death by Charlotte Corday, a Girondin and political enemy of Marat who blamed Marat for the September Massacre. Corday gained entrance to Marat's dwelling promising either to divulge the names of traitors of the Revolution or to plead for the lives of her Girondin acquaintances (historical records disagree on her ostensible reason for meeting with Marat).[5]

Marat suffered from a skin condition that caused him to spend much of his time in his bathtub; he would often work there. Corday fatally stabbed Marat, but she did not attempt to flee. She was later tried and executed for the murder.[6]

When he was murdered, Marat was correcting a proof of his newspaper L'Ami du peuple. The blood-stained page is preserved. In the painting, the note Marat is holding is not an actual quotation of Corday, but a fictional expression based on what Corday might have said.[7]

A copy of L’Ami du peuple stained with the blood of Marat

The leading French painter of his generation, David was a prominent Montagnard and a Jacobin, aligned with Marat and Maximilian Robespierre. [_citation needed_] As a deputy of the museum section at the National Convention, David voted for the death of French king Louis XVI and served on the Committee of General Security, where he actively participated in sentencings and imprisonment, eventually presiding over the "section des interrogatoires".[_citation needed_] David was also on the Committee of Public Instruction.[8]

Detail of The Death of Marat showing the paper held in Marat's left hand. The letter reads "Il suffit que je sois bien malheureuse pour avoir droit a votre bienveillance" which translates to "It is enough that I am very unhappy to be entitled to your benevolence"

The Death of Marat has often been compared to Michelangelo's Pietà, a major similarity being the elongated arm hanging down in both works.[_citation needed_] David admired Caravaggio's works, especially Entombment of Christ, which mirrors _The Death of Marat'_s drama and light.[_citation needed_]

David sought to transfer the sacred qualities long associated with the monarchy and the Catholic Church to the new French Republic. He painted Marat, martyr of the Revolution, in a style reminiscent of a Christian martyr, with the face and body bathed in a soft, glowing light.[9]

Charlotte Corday by Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry, painted 1860.

One of two versions of Death of Marat made by Edvard Munch in 1907

Several copies of the painting were made by David's pupils in 1793–1794, when the image was a popular symbol of martyrdom amid the Reign of Terror. [_citation needed_] From 1795 to David's death, the painting languished in obscurity. During David's exile in Belgium, it was hidden, somewhere in France, by Antoine Gros, David's most famous pupil. [_citation needed_]

There was renewed interest in the painting after Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Charles Baudelaire praised the work after seeing it at the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in 1845.[10] Nineteenth-century paintings inspired by David's work include Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry's Charlotte Corday. In the 20th century, David's painting inspired artists such as Pablo Picasso and Edvard Munch, poets (Alessandro Mozzambani) and writers (Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade).[_citation needed_] Brazilian artist Vik Muniz created a version composed of contents from a city landfill as part of his "Pictures of Garbage" series.[11]

The letter that appears in the painting, with blood-stains and bath water marks still visible, has survived and was owned by Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford.[12]

  1. ^ Perrin Stein; Daniella Berman; Philippe Bordes; Mehdi Korchane; Louis-Antoine Prat; Juliette Trey (2022). Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 192. ISBN 9781588397461.
  2. ^ Alicja Zelazko. "The Death of Marat". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  3. ^ Clark, T. J. (2001). Farewell to An Idea: Episodes from a History of Modernism. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780300089103.
  4. ^ "Site officiel du musée du Louvre". cartelfr.louvre.fr. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  5. ^ Spencer, Erika Hope. "Research Guides: France: Women in the Revolution: Charlotte Corday". guides.loc.gov. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  6. ^ Greenhalgh, Michael (1989). "David's 'Marat Assassiné' and Its Sources". The Yearbook of English Studies. 19: 162–180. doi:10.2307/3508048. ISSN 0306-2473. JSTOR 3508048.
  7. ^ Greenhalgh, Michael (1989). "David's 'Marat Assassiné' and Its Sources". The Yearbook of English Studies. 19: 163. doi:10.2307/3508048. ISSN 0306-2473. JSTOR 3508048.
  8. ^ Wildenstein, pp. 43–59.
  9. ^ Smarthistory Archived 18 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, David's Death of Marat, accessed 28 December 2012
  10. ^ Greenhalgh, Michael (1989). "David's 'Marat Assassiné' and Its Sources". The Yearbook of English Studies. 19: 162–180. doi:10.2307/3508048. ISSN 0306-2473. JSTOR 3508048.
  11. ^ "A Modern Marat". The Wall Street Journal. 16 October 2010.
  12. ^ The Earl of Crawford has the largest collection of French revolutionary manuscripts in Scotland.
  13. ^ Mills, Mike (21 September 2018). "Which Michael references in the song "We Walk".https://twitter.com/REMLyrics1/status/1043225539794948102 …".