The Death of Socrates
1787 · Oil on canvas · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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About this work
- Artist
- Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825)
- Year
- 1787
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 129.5 × 196.2 cm
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Movement
- Neoclassicism
Condemned by Athens for corrupting its youth, Socrates reaches for the cup of hemlock without looking at it, one finger raised as he finishes a last argument about the immortality of the soul. His disciples grieve around the stone bed; the executioner turns away as he hands over the poison; Plato, who was not present, sits at the foot of the bed with his back turned, and Crito grips the philosopher's thigh. David painted the scene in 1787, two years before the Revolution, for Charles-Michel Trudaine de la Sablière, and it was praised at the Salon as the most perfect of modern pictures. The composition, lit from the left across a frieze of figures in a bare prison, is Neoclassicism at its most severe, and the subject, a man choosing principle over life, became a model for revolutionary virtue. The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought the painting in 1931.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A frieze of mourning disciples around a white-robed philosopher reaching for the hemlock, in reds, whites and stone grey, for a study, library or office at 24×36 in black. Dark grey, olive or ochre walls hold the drama; it pairs with the Oath of the Horatii.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Neoclassicism painting
- Era
- 18th century (1787)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- study or library, home office, living room, dining room, dorm room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Death of Socrates in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Death of Socrates painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
