The Death of Seneca (David)

With its Boucher-like assembly of gesticulating figures, it was his third attempt to win the Prix de Rome, but lost to a painting on the same subject by Pierre Peyron.

The Roman stoic philosopher, Seneca is shown having accepted the sentence passed down on him by the emperor Nero despite the fact that it was unjustly ordered.

To hasten his demise Seneca requests ankles to be also cut while his friend and doctor Statius Annaeus gives him a dose of hemlock.

Other figures in the piece include a centurion dispatched by Nero to witness the death and a disciple of who writes down the last words of the philosopher.

Cherish it in your memory, and you will gain at once the applause due to virtue, and the fame of a sincere and generous friendship.” The lavish Rococo composition is in contrast with the austerity of the subject set by the Academy for the Grand Prix de Rome “the death of Seneca as told by Tacitus”.