Execution Of Socrates

Like many of his paintings from that decade, The Death of Socrates�is a 1787 oil on canvas painting by the French painter�Jacques-Louis David.

Like many of his paintings from that decade, the Death of�Socratesfocuses on a classical subject.^[1]�In this case, it is the story of Socrates’s execution, as told by�Plato�in Phaedo.^[2]�In this story, Socrates, as punishment for criticizing Critias, the tyrant of�Athens, is told he must either drink the poison hemlock or face exile. Socrates, rather than fleeing, uses his death as a final lesson for his pupils, and faces it calmly.^[3]
In the painting, an old man in a white robe sits upright on a bed, one hand extended over a cup, the other gesturing in the air. He is surrounded by other men of varying ages, most showing emotional distress, unlike the stoic old man. The young man handing him the cup looks the other way, with his face in his free hand. Another young man clutches the thigh of the old man. An elderly man sits at the end of the bed, slumped over and looking in his lap. To the left of the painting, the wall becomes an arch, with more men in the background.