What formal and compositional means does David employ to explore the tension between the will of the individual and duty to the state in The Death of Socrates?
To place this picture in context it is important to understand the story David is attempting to tell. The philosopher Socrates was accused by the government of Athens of impiety and of corrupting the young. In 399BCE he was sentenced to death by drinking hemlock – death through poisoning.
David’s controversial picture depicts the last moments of the philosopher’s life. The controversy here lays in the juxtaposition of life and death. The setting and the distinction between light and dark that David uses help to reinforce the contrasts in his subject matter – both physically as represented on canvas, and philosophically from within the story he is telling. A broad tonal range, with bright light and skin tones move through duller brownish hued skin and dark recesses and corners shown in the room itself.......
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Approximate Word Count: 828
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |