The Death of Socrates

To analyze the picture.

The Death of Socrates, is a magnificent work of the neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David, is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It was made in 1787

  Around 399 BC. BC Socrates, with 70 years old was sentenced to die by drinking hemlock for speaking publicly against the ancestral gods,  'corrupt' their wards and criticize authority.         The painting depicts the great philosopher Socrates, when he drank from the cup of hemlock. David delete some characters that were when  Socrates died and adds others. With him are his disciples. Crito, his friend and disciple, the one who puts his hand on the Socrate´s thigh.

       Plato, although he was not that day due to illness, is at the left showing his grief. The author was represented Plato old when in fact he was young when Socrates died, perhaps to show maturity and the ability to face frustation.

      In the scene the jailer who gives the cup is afflicted and turns to not see death. Socrates is at the center as the teacher who was always with his disciples, strong and without fear of what the future holds for him.

The white color in Socrates represent the purity and tranquility of the good man he was, we can note that the light is on Socrates and extends over his disipulos, representing that Socrates is the light of wisdom.

      The background is dark because it represents darkness left at his death and  the sadness.