The Death of Marat (French:La Mort de Marat orMarat Assassiné) is a 1793 painting byJacques-Louis David depicting the artist's friend and murdered French revolutionary leader,Jean-Paul Marat.[1] One of the most famous images from the era of theFrench Revolution, it was painted when David was the leading French Neoclassical painter, aMontagnard, and a member of the revolutionaryCommittee of General Security. Created in the months after Marat's death, the painting shows Marat lying dead in his bath after his assassination byCharlotte Corday on 13 July 1793.[2]
In 2001, art historianT. J. Clark called David's painting the firstmodernist work for "the way it took the stuff of politics as its material, and did not transmute it".[3]
Jean-Paul Marat (24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was one of the leaders of theMontagnards, a radical faction active during theFrench Revolution from theReign of Terror to theThermidorian Reaction. Marat was stabbed to death byCharlotte Corday, aGirondin and political enemy of Marat who blamed Marat for theSeptember Massacre. Corday gained entrance to Marat's dwelling promising either to divulge the names of traitors of the Revolution or to plead for the lives of her Girondin acquaintances (historical records disagree on her ostensible reason for meeting with Marat).[5]
Marat suffered from a skin condition that caused him to spend much of his time in his bathtub; he would often work there. Corday fatally stabbed Marat, but she did not attempt to flee. She was later tried and executed for the murder.[6]
When he was murdered, Marat was correcting a proof of his newspaperL'Ami du peuple. The blood-stained page is preserved. In the painting, the note Marat is holding is not an actual quotation of Corday, but a fictional expression based on what Corday might have said.[7]
A copy ofL’Ami du peuple stained with the blood of Marat
The leading French painter of his generation, David was a prominent Montagnard and aJacobin, aligned with Marat andMaximilian Robespierre.[8]As a deputy of the museum section at theNational Convention, David voted for the death of French kingLouis XVI and served on the Committee of General Security, where he actively participated in sentencings and imprisonment, eventually presiding over the "section des interrogatoires".[citation needed] David was also on theCommittee of Public Instruction.[9]
Detail ofThe Death of Marat showing the paper held in Marat's left hand. The letter reads "Il suffit que je sois bien malheureuse pour avoir droit a votre bienveillance" which translates to "It is enough that I am very unhappy to be entitled to your benevolence"
The Death of Marat has often been compared toMichelangelo's Pietà, a major similarity being the elongated arm hanging down in both works.[10] David admiredCaravaggio's works, especiallyEntombment of Christ, which mirrorsThe Death of Marat's drama and light.[10]
David sought to transfer the sacred qualities long associated with the monarchy and the Catholic Church to the new French Republic. He painted Marat, martyr of the Revolution, in a style reminiscent of a Christian martyr, with the face and body bathed in a soft, glowing light.[11]
Several copies of the painting were made by David's pupils in 1793–1794, when the image was a popular symbol of martyrdom amid the Reign of Terror.[citation needed] From 1795 to David's death, the painting languished in obscurity. During David's exile in Belgium, it was hidden, somewhere in France, byAntoine Gros, David's most famous pupil.[citation needed]
There was renewed interest in the painting afterPierre-Joseph Proudhon andCharles Baudelaire praised the work after seeing it at the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in 1845.[12] Nineteenth-century paintings inspired by David's work includePaul Jacques Aimé Baudry'sCharlotte Corday. In the 20th century, David's painting inspired artists such asPablo Picasso andEdvard Munch, poets (Alessandro Mozzambani) and writers (Peter Weiss' playMarat/Sade).[citation needed] Brazilian artistVik Muniz created a version composed of contents from a city landfill as part of his "Pictures of Garbage" series.[13]
The letter that appears in the painting, with blood-stains and bath water marks still visible, has survived and was owned byRobert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford.[14]
In 1897, the French directorGeorges Hatot made a movie entitledLa Mort de Marat. This early silent film made for theLumière Company is a brief single-shot scene of the assassination of the revolutionary.
The cover art of the 1980 albumEast by Australian pub rock bandCold Chisel, was inspired by the painting.
Andrzej Wajda's 1983 filmDanton includes several scenes in David's atelier, including one showing the painting of Marat's portrait.
Derek Jarman's 1986 filmCaravaggio imitates the painting in a scene where the chronicler, head bound in a towel (but writing here with a typewriter), slouches back in his tub, one arm extended outside the tub.
The painting appears in the background of the cover art for the 1986Blow Monkeys albumAnimal Magic.
Vik Muniz recreated theDeath of Marat with waste from a massive landfill near Rio de Janeiro in his 2010 documentaryWaste Land. The picture is prominently featured on the DVD cover.
Steve Goodman re-created the painting (with himself in place of Marat) for the cover of his 1977 albumSay It in Private.
The painting is recreated inThe Red Violin (1998), in the scene whenJason Flemyng, playing violinist Frederick Pope, leans back in a bathtub with a letter from his lover in his hand.
T J Clark, "Painting in the Year Two", inRepresentations, No. 47, Special Issue: National Cultures before Nationalism (Summer, 1994), pp. 13–63.
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Delécluze, E.,Louis David, son école et son temps, Paris, (1855) re-edition Macula (1983) – First-hand testimony by a pupil of David
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Bowman, F.P., 'Le culte de Marat, figure de Jésus', Le Christ romantique, ed. Droz, Genève, pp. 62 sq. (1973)
Wildenstein, Daniel et Guy, Documents complémentaires au catalogue de l’oeuvre de Louis David, Paris, Fondation Wildenstein (1973) – fondamental source to track all influences constituting David's visual culture
Starobinski, Jean,1789, les emblèmes de la raison, ed. Flammarion, Paris (1979)
Schnapper, Antoine,David témoin de son temps, ed. Office du Livre, Fribourg (1980)
Kruft, H.-W., "An antique model for David's Marat" inThe Burlington Magazine CXXV, 967 (October 1983), pp. 605–607; CXXVI, 973 (April 84)
Traeger, Jorg,Der Tod des Marat: Revolution des menschenbildes, ed. Prestel, München (1986)
Thévoz, Michel,Le théâtre du crime. Essai sur la peinture de David, éd. de Minuit, Paris (1989)
Guilhaumou, J.,La mort de Marat, ed. Complexe, Bruxelles (1989)
Mortier, R., 'La mort de Marat dans l'imagerie révolutionnaire',Bulletin de la Classe des Beaux-Arts, Académie Royale de Belgique, 6ème série, tome I, 10–11 (1990), pp. 131–144
Simon, Robert, "David’s Martyr-Portrait of Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau and the conundrums of Revolutionary Representation" inArt History, vol.14, n°4 (December 1991), pp. 459–487
Sérullaz, Arlette,Inventaire général des dessins. Ecole française. Dessins de Jacques-Louis David 1748–1825, Paris (1991)
David contre David, actes du colloque au Louvre du 6–10 décembre 1989, éd. R. Michel, Paris (1993) [M. Bleyl, "Marat : du portrait à la peinture d'histoire"]
Malvone, Laura, "L'Évènement politique en peinture. A propos du Marat de David" inMélanges de l'École française de Rome.Italie et Méditerranée, n° 106, 1 (1994)
Pacco, M.,De Vouet à David. Peintures françaises du Musée d'Art Ancien, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, ed. MRBAB, Bruxelles (1994)
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Crow, T.,Emulation. Making artists for Revolutionary France, ed. Yale University Press, New Haven London (1995)
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Robespierre, edited by Colin Haydon & William Doyle, Cambridge (1999)
Lajer-Burcharth, E.,Necklines. The art of Jacques-Louis David after the Terror, ed. Yale University Press, New Haven London (1999)
Lee, S.,David, ed. Phaidon, London (1999); * Aston, Nigel,Religion and Revolution in France, 1780–1804, McMillan, London (2000)
Jacques-Louis David’s Marat, edited by William Vaughan & Helen Weston, Cambridge (2000)
Rosenberg, Pierre & Louis-Antoine Prat,Jacques-Louis David 1748–1825. Catalogue raisonné des dessins, 2 volumes, éd. Leonardo Arte, Milan (2002)
Idem, Peronnet, Benjamin, "Un album inédit de David",Revue de l’Art, n°142, (2003–2004) pp. 45–83
Vanden Berghe, Marc & Ioana Plesca,Nouvelles perspectives sur la Mort de Marat: entre modèle jésuite et références mythologiques, Bruxelles (2004) /New perspectives for David's Death of Marat, Brussels (2004), available at the KBR, Brussels.
Idem,Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau sur son lit de mort par Jacques Louis-David : saint Sébastien révolutionnaire, miroir multiréférencé de Rome, Brussels (2005), available at the KBR, Brussels.
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