The Death of Marat
1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David
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In 2001, art historian T. J. Clark called David's painting the first modernist work for "the way it took the stuff of politics as its material, and did not transmute it".
The painting is in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium. A replica, created by the artist's studio, is on display at the Louvre.
The assassination of Marat
Jean-Paul Marat (24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was one of the leaders of the Montagnards, a radical faction active during the French Revolution from the Reign of Terror to the Thermidorian Reaction. Marat was stabbed to death by Charlotte Corday, a Girondin and political enemy of Marat who blamed Marat for the September Massacres. 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).
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.
When he was murdered, Marat was correcting a proof of his newspaper L'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.
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David's politics
The leading French painter of his generation, David was a prominent Montagnard and a Jacobin, aligned with Marat and Maximilien Robespierre. As a deputy of the museum section at the National Convention, David voted for the death of French king Louis XVI and served on the Committee of General Security, where he actively participated in sentencing and imprisonment, eventually presiding over the "section des interrogatoires". David was also on the Committee of Public Instruction.
Style
The Death of Marat has often been compared to Michelangelo's Pietà, a major similarity being the elongated arm hanging down in both works. David admired Caravaggio's works, especially Entombment of Christ, which mirrors The Death of Marat's drama and light.
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.
Later history
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. From 1795 to David's death, the painting languished in obscurity. During David's exile in Belgium, it was hidden, somewhere in France, by Antoine Gros, David's most famous pupil.
There was renewed interest in the painting after Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Charles Baudelaire praised the work after seeing it at the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in 1845. Nineteenth-century paintings inspired by David's work include Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry's Charlotte Corday. In the 20th century, David's painting inspired artists such as Pablo Picasso and Edvard Munch, poets (Alessandro Mozzambani) and writers (Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade). Brazilian artist Vik Muniz created a version composed of contents from a city landfill as part of his "Pictures of Garbage" series. The painting has also been appropriated by Herman Braun-Vega, at times as a vehicle for political commentary.
The letter that appears in the painting, with blood-stains and bath water marks still visible, has survived and was owned by Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford.
In popular culture
- In 1897, the French director Georges Hatot made a movie entitled La Mort de Marat. This early silent film made for the Lumière Company is a brief single-shot scene of the assassination of the revolutionary.
- Monty Pythons Flying Circus TV series featured a skit entitled “It's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart' / Famous Deaths”. John Cleese (as Mozart) reviews famous historical deaths, such as Lincoln or Julius Caesar; included on the list of ‘famous deaths’ is “Marat in his bathtub”
- The composition influenced one of the scenes in Stanley Kubrick's 1975 adaptation of Barry Lyndon.
- The cover art of the 1980 album East by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel, was inspired by the painting.
- Andrzej Wajda's 1983 film Danton includes several scenes in David's atelier, including one showing the painting of Marat's portrait.
- Derek Jarman's 1986 film Caravaggio 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 1986 Blow Monkeys album Animal Magic.
- Vik Muniz recreated the Death of Marat with waste from a massive landfill near Rio de Janeiro in his 2010 documentary Waste 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 album Say It in Private.
- The painting is recreated in The Red Violin (1998), in the scene when Jason Flemyng, playing violinist Frederick Pope, leans back in a bathtub with a letter from his lover in his hand.
- In the 2002 movie, About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson's character Warren falls asleep in the bath whilst composing a letter, recreating David's painting.
- The painting was used as the album art for American band Have a Nice Life's 2008 album Deathconsciousness.
- The painting was used as the album art for American band The New Regime’s 2008 album Coup.
- In season 9, episode 3 ("Art Imitates Life") of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a serial killer poses his victims peculiarly, one such victim's posture being an homage to David's painting.
- In 2013, the American singer Lady Gaga recreated several artworks for her album Artpop, one of which was The Death of Marat.
- In 2014, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise featured this event in a side mission in Assassin’s Creed Unity, aptly titled The Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat.
- The painting is the subject of an entire episode in the 2006 BBC series Simon Schama's Power of Art.
- The painting was mentioned as a favorite of the narrator in the novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
- The painting is referenced by US alternative rock band R.E.M. in the lyrics of their song "We Walk" and in the video to their song "Drive".
- The cover art to singer-songwriter Andrew Bird's 2019 album My Finest Work Yet features a recreation of the painting with Bird in place of Marat.
- The Death of Marat is one of many paintings animated in the video for the song "Alpha Zulu" by the French alternative rock band Phoenix.
- In Season 1, episode 9 ("Marat Sade") of The Testaments, Commander Grove is stabbed to death while taking a bath and his body is seen in a pose recreating the painting.