The Death of Socrates

A bearded, bald man, bare-chested and draped in cloth, raises one arm in argument at the center of a stone chamber. Beside him a figure reaches for a cup, while a seated man in the foreground writes on a tablet and a reclining figure sits at left, with mourners crowded at right. Brushed gray wash and fine pen lines model the light falling through a barred window.

Look closer: A pair of shoes or sandals lies on the floor near the bottom center.

Artist

Jacques Louis David

Date

ca. 1782

Medium

Pen and black ink, with brush and gray wash, over black chalk; lightly squared in black chalk

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

1744 × 1137 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2013