{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[],"creditline":"Museum purchase, gift of Carl D. Reimers","caption":"Jacques-Louis David and studio (1748–1825; born Paris, France; died Brussels, Belgium; active Paris, Brussels, and Rome, Italy), The Death of Socrates, after 1787. Oil on canvas; 133 × 196 cm, 160.7 × 225.6 × 13.7 cm (frame). Museum purchase, gift of Carl D. 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Oil on canvas; 133 × 196 cm, 160.7 × 225.6 × 13.7 cm (frame). Museum purchase, gift of Carl D. Reimers (y1982-82)","displaydate":"after 1787","medium":"Oil on canvas","media":[{"id":14328,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1982-82","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 208","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 199 (illus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"},{"boilertext":"Thelma Althshuler and Richard Janaro, <em>The Art of Behing Human: The Humanities as a Technique for Living</em>, 11th edition (Boston: Pearson College Division, 2016).","citation":"Thelma Althshuler and Richard Janaro, <em>The Art of Behing Human: The Humanities as a Technique for Living</em>, 11th edition (Boston: Pearson College Division, 2016).","date":2016,"id":6829,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/929583122"},{"boilertext":"Alan Wintermute, et. al., <em>1789: French art during the Revolution, </em>(New York: Colnaghi, 1989).","citation":"Alan Wintermute, et. al., <em>1789: French art during the Revolution, </em>(New York: Colnaghi, 1989)., no. 9, p. 113-119; p. 114, pl. 9","date":1989,"id":4966,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/21484310"},{"boilertext":"Paul Spencer-Longhurst, \"Book reviews: a fundamental shift in French painting\" <EM>Apollo </EM>132, no. 342 (Aug. 1, 1990): p. 128-130.","citation":"Paul Spencer-Longhurst, \"Book reviews: a fundamental shift in French painting\" <EM>Apollo </EM>132, no. 342 (Aug. 1, 1990): p. 128-130., p. 129","date":1990,"id":4967,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/888249416"},{"boilertext":"Thomas Crow, \"Une maniere de travailler in the Studio of David\", <EM>Parachute revue d'art contemporain</EM> 56 (Oct., Nov., Dec., 1989). ","citation":"Thomas Crow, \"Une maniere de travailler in the Studio of David\", <EM>Parachute revue d'art contemporain</EM> 56 (Oct., Nov., Dec., 1989). , p. 48-49 (illus.)","date":1989,"id":4968,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/669773507"},{"boilertext":"Bernadette Fort, <EM>Fictions of the French Revolution</EM>, (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991).","citation":"Bernadette Fort, <EM>Fictions of the French Revolution</EM>, (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991)., p. 57, fig. 2; p. 55","date":1991,"id":4969,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/23220601"},{"boilertext":"Garry Apgar, \"Jacques-Louis David (1785-1825) ... a critical view\", <EM>Apollo</EM> 137, no. 375 (May 1, 1993): p. 304-306.","citation":"Garry Apgar, \"Jacques-Louis David (1785-1825) ... a critical view\", <EM>Apollo</EM> 137, no. 375 (May 1, 1993): p. 304-306., p. 306, note 10","date":1993,"id":4970,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/808061742"},{"boilertext":"Thomas E. Crow, <EM>Emulation: making artists for revolutionary France</EM>, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995).","citation":"Thomas E. Crow, <EM>Emulation: making artists for revolutionary France</EM>, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995)., p. 100, fig. 76, fig. 77; p. 100-102","date":1995,"id":4971,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/30782730"},{"boilertext":"Thomas Eugene Crow, <EM>L'Atelier de David: Emulation et Révolution</EM>, (Paris?: Gallimard, 1995).","citation":"Thomas Eugene Crow, <EM>L'Atelier de David: Emulation et Révolution</EM>, (Paris?: Gallimard, 1995)., pl. 33 (color); p. 123","date":1995,"id":4972,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/493349154"},{"boilertext":"Jobert Barthelemy, \"[Review] Thomas Crow, L'Atelier de David. Emulation et Révolution\", <em>Revue de l'art</em> 126, no. 1 (1999): p. 92.","citation":"Jobert Barthelemy, \"[Review] Thomas Crow, L'Atelier de David. Emulation et Révolution\", <em>Revue de l'art</em> 126, no. 1 (1999): p. 92., p. 92","date":1999,"id":4973,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/888928989"},{"boilertext":"Claudia Einecke and&nbsp;Pierre Rosenberg, <EM>Final moments: Peyron, David, and \"The Death of Socrates\"</EM>, (Omaha, NE: Joslyn Art Museum, 2001).","citation":"Claudia Einecke and&nbsp;Pierre Rosenberg, <EM>Final moments: Peyron, David, and \"The Death of Socrates\"</EM>, (Omaha, NE: Joslyn Art Museum, 2001)., cat. no. 2; p. 31; Within Rosenberg essay: p. 12-15; p. 30 (illus.)","date":2001,"id":4974,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/46344708"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1982\", <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 42, no. 1 (1983): p. 50-70.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1982\", <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University</em> 42, no. 1 (1983): p. 50-70., pp. 50–51 (illus.)","date":1983,"id":3149,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774638"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"European Painting and Sculpture ","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199321,"term":"European Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199338,"term":"Nazi-era gaps","termtype":"Provenance & Cultural Heritage"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1800-1850","dateend":1825,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"The Death of Socrates","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"y1982-82","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Private collection, London (until 1982); Colnaghi, New York (in 1982; sold to Princeton University Art Museum).","remarks":"Migrated from 9.35 12/2013"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nThis is an unfinished replica of David’s <I>Death of Socrates</I> (Salon of 1787; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). The left section is nearly complete, lacking only bars on the window and decoration on a robe. To the right, the paint layers are peeled back progressively, so the underpainting is revealed in less and less finished layers. There have been attempts to attribute the replica to a David student and to explain why it is unfinished. </P>\r\nPerhaps the most convincing argument has been put forth by the scholar Thomas Crow, who has asserted that the finished parts are by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson (1767–1824), and that the canvas was painted as a demonstration for students. Crow has even attributed the least finished portion to David himself, in a revolutionary reversal of normal workshop procedure, in which students prepare the underlayers and the master applies the final touches. The work is a perfect teaching tool (like an anatomical model that peels away layers of skin, fat, and muscle, finally to reveal bones), and the painting likely served that purpose in the studio of David, despite the lack of any mention of it in the texts of the time. </P>\r\nDavid’s celebrated composition depicts &shy;Socrates about to drink the poison that the Athenian state decreed as his punishment for subverting the youths of the city with his philo&shy;sophical interrogations. His disciples bid him adieu. In 1787, Socrates was a model to those who wished to reform France’s government along the lines suggested by the contemporary &shy;<I>philosophes</I>, who were themselves subject to censorship and persecution. </P></SPAN>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"<p>This painting depicts the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, who drinks poisonous hemlock rather than renounce his beliefs after he was convicted of corrupting Athenian youth with his teachings. Like the contemporary artist Yinka Shonibare, whose work is on view nearby, David turned to history to interpret present-day events. Painting on the eve of the French Revolution, the artist intended this scene to serve as an allegory for independent thought at a moment of political change. This rough canvas appears to be a lifetime copy of David’s signed version of <i>The Death of Socrates</i>, perhaps intentionally unfinished to instruct David’s students on the techniques of painting. The left section is nearly complete, the transition from greater to lesser degrees of finish demonstrating the stages of its construction. Scholars suggest that David painted the least-finished portions himself while his student Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson may have completed the more-finished areas, reversing typical studio procedure. Today, the work continues to serve as a teaching tool.\n</p><p>Comparative image: Jacques-Louis David, <i>The Death of Socrates</i>, 1787. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1931\n</p>","remarks":"ORI-CI_06-WLA.pdf - Day 1 installation"}],"datebegin":1787,"sortnumber":"1982   82y","published_date":"2026-04-28 02:00:14.271646","objectid":32792,"dimensions":"133 × 196 cm (52 3/8 × 77 3/16 in.)\r\nframe: 160.7 × 225.6 × 13.7 cm (63 1/4 × 88 13/16 × 5 3/8 in.)","on_view":true}