The Death of Marat

The Death of Marat
French: La Mort de Marat
ArtistJacques-Louis David
Year1793
MediumOil on canvas
MovementNeoclassicism
Dimensions162 cm × 128 cm (64 in × 50 in)
LocationRoyal 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]

  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.