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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]
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- Jacques-Louis David and The Death of Marat
The Death of Marat, oil painting (1793) by French artist Jacques-Louis David depicting the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, a radical activist of the French Revolution, by Charlotte Corday, a supporter of the opposing political party. With The Death of Marat, David transformed traditional history painting, usually reserved for biblical or Classica...
Marat was a physician and publisher, who, with the start of the French Revolution in 1789, used his newspaper, L’Ami du Peuple (“The Friend of the People”), to voice his support for the most radical and democratic measures. In 1792 he joined the National Convention, the assembly that governed France after the overthrow of the monarchy (August 10, 1792). The Convention’s first months were dominated by two opposing revolutionary factions, the Montagnards and the more moderate Girondins. The Montagnards were closely associated with the Jacobin Club of Paris and favoured granting the poorer classes more political power. The Girondins, on the other hand, were composed of the educated provincial middle class of France and favoured a bourgeois republic. Marat was one of the most prominent members of the Convention, and attacks on him by the Girondin faction made him a symbol of the Montagnards, although he held no position of real influence.
The Girondins had promoted a war against the anti-revolutionary European coalition (comprising Austria, Prussia, and Great Britain, later called the First Coalition) in 1792 and were held responsible in 1793 when France suffered a series of defeats. They were overthrown by the popular insurrection of May 31 to June 2 of that year. Many of its leaders fled to Caen, where Charlotte Corday, a young woman of noble birth but of little means, often attended political meetings. She was inspired to go to Paris to work for the Girondin cause. Using the pretext of providing information on dissidents in Normandy, Corday was admitted to see Marat on July 13, 1793. She found him working while taking a medicinal bath. Corday then drew a knife from under her dress and stabbed him mortally in the chest. She was arrested on the spot, and within days she was tried and convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal. She was guillotined on July 17, 1793.
David was a leading proponent of the Neoclassical movement, which arose in reaction to the Rococo style. Toward the second half of the 18th century, Rococo had come to represent the lavish excesses of the aristocracy. In response to this extravagance, artists grew to regard Classical antiquity as the height of human civilization. Many identified with the values associated with the Roman Republic, including simplicity, heroism, and stoic virtue—ideals that are promoted in The Death of Marat. The composition of the painting is restrained and the narrative is clear. Marat is the only figure in a shallow setting; he slumps in the bathtub toward the viewer, his right arm hanging over the side, a quill pen in his hand. His assassin is not pictured, but Marat’s left hand still holds her letter asking to gain admittance, the bloodied knife lies on the ground, and a wound bleeds just below his collarbone.
Marat’s expression shows no surprise or horror but remains neutral, as if he is merely asleep. He is an idealized figure; David has given him a youthful face, pristine skin, and muscular arms. His pose recalls that of Christ in Caravaggio’s The Entombment of Christ (c. 1602–04). In that painting, the body of Christ lies slack, his right arm hanging at his side, as Nicodemus and John the Evangelist place him in the tomb. Even Marat’s gash recalls Christ’s stigmata, the wounds he is said to have received while on the cross. David thus links Marat to Christ. Like Christ, who died for humanity’s salvation, Marat is shown to have died for the Revolution’s cause.
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Oct 22, 2022 · The assassination of revolutionary activist and Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat on 13 July 1793 was one of the most iconic moments of the French Revolution (1789-1799), immortalized in Jacques-Louis David's painting Death of Marat.
- The death of Jean-Paul Marat gave the Jacobins a martyr which they could use to further their own political agenda, while his killer, Charlotte Cor...
- Jean-Paul Marat was a revolutionary activist known for his inflammatory remarks which were often seen to encourage political violence. His killer,...
- Painter Jacques-Louis David helped the Jacobins in their propaganda by portraying Marat as a martyr in his famous painting "Death of Marat", which...
Marat was assassinated by Charlotte Corday, a Girondin sympathizer, while taking a medicinal bath for his debilitating skin condition. Corday was executed four days later for his assassination, on 17 July 1793.
Aug 31, 2024 · Jean-Paul Marat’s assassination in 1793 quickly became a symbol of the French Revolution for Jacobin supporters, who had seized power from the Girondins just weeks before. The murder was immortalized through Jacques-Louis David’s painting The Death of Marat.
- Jean Vidalenc
- Jean-Paul Marat was a prominent figure in the French Revolution. His polemics against the French monarchy and aristocracy were influential in the r...
- Jean-Paul Marat was a renowned doctor in London until he returned to France in 1777. He served as a physician to various aristocrats while performi...
- Jean-Paul Marat became a delegate to the National Convention in 1792 after scathingly denouncing the National Assembly for refusing to remove King...
- On July 13, 1793, Jean-Paul Marat received a visit from the young Girondin activist Charlotte Corday. Corday claimed to have intelligence on Girond...
Feb 17, 2023 · The Death of Marat (1793) by Jacques-Louis David was painted in a manner to show the Jacobin Jean-Paul Marat as a so-called martyr, notably of the French Revolution. He was assassinated by Charlotte Corday, who was part of the opposite political group the Girondins.
Jun 14, 2023 · The Death of Marat, like most of David’s art from this decade, is a highly political piece that addresses an important event of that time – the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat, not only a personal friend of the artist but also an individual who played a pivotal role in the French Revolution.
