The Death of Tatius

The Death of Tatius is an oil on canvas painted by Anne-Louis Girodet in 1788, just before the French Revolution, in the Neoclassical style. Its subject comes from the legendary founding of Rome: Titus Tatius, leader of the Sabines, dies while fighting against Romulus. The scene thus belongs to the warfare that follows the abduction of the Sabine women, a story that history painting of the period often treated as an example of civic virtue and conflict between peoples. Girodet submitted the work to the Prix de Rome competition in 1788. He did not win that year, but in 1789 he took the prize with Joseph and His Brethren, which makes this canvas an early step in his career. It is now held by the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Angers, where it stands as evidence of his academic training and of the narrative ambition that the French Academy's juries looked for at the time.

Painter

Anne-Louis Girodet

Date

1788

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

114 × 147 cm

Museum

Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers, Angers

Genre

history painting

Share:FacebookWhatsApp