Death of Marat
... 5 He was president of the Jacobin club on the day when his good friend and fellow Jacobin, Jean-Paul Marat, was killed. Marat, Jacobin deputy to the Convention, and editor-in-chief of LAmi du Peuple, was a fiery orator; he was also a violent man, quick to take offense. ... When Marat agreed to receive her, she stabbed him in his bathtub, where he was accustomed to sit hour after hour treating the disfiguring skin disease from which he suffered. David had visited Marat only the day before the murder, and he recalled the setting of the room vividly, the tub, the sheet, the green rug, the wooden packing case, and above all, the pen of the journalist.1 He saw in Marat a model of antique "virtue. ... 2 In light of the ambiguous position of Marat in French culture and politics at this time we might expect that David’s Painting would be ambivalent and problematic. ... 4 But the significant moment here immediately follows the stabbing—Marat at his lath breath dies in his bathtub, soaking in his own blood. In his left hand Marat holds a letter of presentation from Charlotte Corday, and in his right a pen that strikes the floor in the active position of writing and is adjacent to the bloody knife, the weapon used to kill him. 1 On top of the simple writing table—a worm-eaten box, in which David inscribed his dedication—“ A Marat, David”—the artist has depicted another pen and inkwell along with an assignat and letter, written by Marat, that asks that money be given to a poor widow and her children. 4 Marat, lying on white drapery, is placed in a coffin-shaped bathtub, which is covered with a green cloth. ... The horizontal configuration of Marat in his coffin-bathtub is combined with a vertical format—that of the portrait—one more appropriate for the depiction of a standing, full-length figure—Marat occupies only approximately half of the space.