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Crito

ca. 1786–87
Not on view
This highly finished drawing is a study for David's Death of Socrates (31.45), which hangs in the Metropolitan's European Paintings Galleries. The painting depicts the philosopher in prison in 399 BC. Sentenced to death for corrupting the youth of Athens, he pauses to address his followers before drinking the hemlock. This sheet is a study for the pose and drapery of Crito, a wealthy Athenian disciple who, in the painting, sits by Socrates' side and beseeches him not to drink the poison. The grid drawn in black chalk, known as squaring, would have assisted the artist in transferring the design from paper to canvas.

Other studies for the painting were acquired by the museum in 2013 (2013.59) and 2015 (2015.149).

(Perrin Stein, July 2017)

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Crito
  • Artist: Jacques Louis David (French, Paris 1748–1825 Brussels)
  • Date: ca. 1786–87
  • Medium: Black chalk, stumped, heightened with white chalk; squared in black chalk
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 21 1/8 × 16 5/16 in. (53.6 × 41.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1961
  • Object Number: 61.161.1
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
The Death of Socrates, Jacques Louis David French, Oil on canvas
The Death of Socrates
Jacques Louis David
1787
The Death of Socrates, Jacques Louis David French, Pen and black ink, over black chalk, touches of pen and brown ink; squared in black chalk
The Death of Socrates
Jacques Louis David
ca. 1786
Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French
Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century
Marie Antoinette in a Park, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun French, Black chalk, stumped, and white chalk; framing lines in black chalk
Marie Antoinette in a Park
Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun
Sitter Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
ca. 1780–81
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and Marie Anne Lavoisier (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836), Jacques Louis David French, Oil on canvas
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and Marie Anne Lavoisier (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836)
Jacques Louis David
1788

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