In The Death of Marat, David took great pains to distance the image from traditional portraiture. He eschewed the actual historical settings and circumstances that he knew well; he idealized and made regular Marat’s facial features and transformed the sickly, thin body, covered with sores, into one that, in its contours and musculature, is heroic and powerful. 2 David goes to great pains to underscore Marat’s vulnerability, sitting naked in his bathtub, he was taken by surprise and completely unable to defend himself. By emphasizing the naturalism of the appalling details and the sparseness of Marat’s surroundings, as well as placing him close to the spectator, David has compelled the viewer to participate in this horrific moment. David had filled this work with the drama of the moment and nothing else. This intensity brought painting to a new plateau and a true sense of Neoclassicism. 4 The painting was sent to the Salon in Paris, the center of criticism and competition in France at the time. The painting had a huge impact and secured David’s reputation as a master of Neoclassical painting.

In his left hand Marat holds a letter of presentation from Charlotte Corday, and in his right a pen that strikes the floor in the active position of writing and is adjacent to the bloody knife, the weapon used to kill him. 1 On top of the simple writing table—a worm-eaten box, in which David inscribed his dedication—“ A Marat, David”—the artist has depicted another pen and inkwell along with an assignat and letter, written by Marat, that asks that money be given to a poor widow and her children. 4 Marat, lying on white drapery, is placed in a coffin-shaped bathtub, which is covered with a green cloth. Light dramatically strikes him and illuminates his head and shoulders. The non-specific background is unexpectedly intense. This fuscous, vague region that cannot even be described as a wall, is characterized by a dramatic interplay of light and shade. Rhythmic, sometimes-violent brushstrokes appear to vibrate and compete with one another, expressing commotion in an image that is otherwise still. 2 The composition in disturbing at a visual level because of the impact of the slumped body, which only half reclines, placed within the very narrow ledge of the foreground plane; this device greatly diminishes the psychological distance between the spectator and the dying figure. The horizontal configuration of Marat in his c

Some topics in this essay:
Marat David”�the, Charlotte Corday, Austria Prussia, Marat David, Louis XVI, David’s Painting, French Revolution, Golden Age, Pompeii Neoclassical, Marat Jacobin, david chose, 2 david, day murder, french revolution, charlotte corday, louis xvi,