Jacques-Louis David was a French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent artist of the era. Some of his popular works are the Potrait of Pope Pius VII, Portrait of Madame Juliette Recamier, Nepolian Series, Andromache Mourning Hector, The Death of Young Bara.

He was know for blending art with politics. He used Art as a propaganda tool which played a huge role in the French Revolution. While David was a member of the revolutionary committee of General Security he painted The Death of Marat in 1793. Its a painting of the murdered French revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat. ... The painting shows the radical journalist lying dead in his bath on 13 July 1793, after his murder by Charlotte Corday. Similarly the Oath of Horatii painted in 1784 depicts a scene from a Roman legend about seventh-century BC dispute between two warring cities, Rome and Alba Longa,[2] and stresses the importance of patriotism and masculine self-sacrifice for one's country. Instead of the two cities sending their armies to war, they agree to choose three men from each city; the victor in that fight will be the victorious city. From Rome, three brothers from a Roman family, the Horatii, agree to end the war. The three brothers, all of whom appear willing to sacrifice their lives for the good of Rome, are shown saluting their father who holds their swords out for them.

Among all his political works, the Most important one is Death of Socrates painted in 1787, A few years ahead of the French Revolution, The Death of Socrates was commissioned by Two radical political reformers who were calling for an upheaval of French norms by promoting a free market system.

The strong message they wanted David to spread was to committing to the principles even in the face death 2 years before the French revolution. In this painting of stoicism in the face of death, David was creating a strong clarion call for how the rebels should push towards their goals, not with cowardice and outcry like Socrates's students but with self-control, honor, and fearlessness. The metric that they  wanted to Improve was “Clarion Call”, how strong can he go in spreading the message.

David's innovation in this art is extremely useful in influencing the stakeholders to take an action. The principles used here can be leveraged while creating a business case that might require stakeholder support in the form of approval, change acceptance, project funding..etc.
Strength, Clarion Call, Ease of Operation, Complexity, Ease of Creation/Manufacture/Process/Design, Positive Risk Capture, Shape

The Death of Socrates

  • 1

    Choosing the most impactful story

    Goal- Choosing the most impactful story to convey the message of committing to the principles even in the face death (Strength of the message)

    Subject - Jacques-Louis David

    Object- Theme/plot/story behind the art

    Blocker - Most of the stories had a tragic ending of the protagonist (Object-generated harmful factors)

    Solution - Use the tragic ending to strengthen the message. As Socrates was a hero who sacrificed himself to his principles rather than accepting banishment and shame, choosing the story of the death Socrates  was the 1st innovation.

    Digitization Principle and ID - Harm to benefit - 000000010001001

  • 2

    Choosing the most inspiring moment

    Goal- Choosing the most inspiring moment from the story- Just before the death (Strength)

    Subject - Jacques-Louis David

    Object- The Death of Socrates (Story)

    Blocker - The most inspiring moment, i.e. the dead Socrates weakens the message and makes Socrates look weak

    Solution - Most of the previous works on the death of Socrates had been after Socrates had died which made the viewer to feel sorry and show sympathy on him instead of feeling strong. David bought in an innovating by showing Socrates just moments before he died and when he about to consume Hemlock.

    Digitization Principle and ID - Prior Action - 000111000001

  • 3

    Make Socrates look stronger

    Goal- Make Socrates look stronger (Strength)

    Subject - Jacques-Louis David

    Object-  Socrates  (Figure and Posture)

    Blocker - Socrates in his 70's would physically look very weak (Shape)

    Solution - Socrates was in his 70's when he was executed, but David use artistic freedom to show him confident and strong. His muscular hands reach out to the Hemlock confidently without a second thought.

    Digitization Principle and ID - Transformation of Properties- 00001000100

  • 4

    Make Socrates get all the attention

    Goal- Make Socrates look stronger (Strength)

    Subject - Jacques-Louis David

    Object- The Death of Socrates (Art)

    Blocker - Too many people in the frame and the focus on Socrates gets diluted  (Ease of the user to focus on Socratis)

    Solution - While seeing the art from right to left, Socrates is the brightest figure in the canvas follower by the executioner and Hemlock in red.

    Digitization Principle and ID - Changing the Color- 00001000100

  • 5

    Make others look weaker

    Goal- Make others look weaker (Strength)

    Subject - Jacques-Louis David

    Object- The Death of Socrates (Art)

    Blocker - The posture of other figures in the frame weakens the strength of Socrates (Shape)

    Solution - To make Socrates look stronger Davis makes the characters around him look weaker.

    When we look through the images from Right to left - Those dedicated to principle are firm and depicted with straight lines while those ruled by emotion are curved and weak with Socrates wife Xanthippe in the background. He had used the same principles in the oath of Horaiti

    Digitization Principle and ID - Transformation of Properties- 00001000100

  • 6

    Tell the story of Plato

    Goal- David wanted to bring more intensity to the art by adding the story of Plato, the man who spread Socrates teachings

    Subject - Viewer

    Object- The Death of Socrates (Art)

    Blocker - This would require more area in the canvas to add multiple components.

    Solution - David changes the entire perspective of the story by going to a different dimension. The man who is pre occupied with his own thoughts – is Plato, the man who spread Socrates teachings.  This is David's depiction of Plato, who wasn't actually present at the scene and Plato was roughly 29 when Socrates died. The whole painting is told from Plato’s perspective or , its Plato's visualization of Socrates's death when we read it from Left to right.

    For example, the gesture of Socrates is actually the gesture of Plato from Raphael's school of Athens In the center of the fresco, at its architecture's central vanishing point, are the two undisputed main subjects: Plato on the left and Aristotle, his student, on the right.

    This is how memories and dreams work.

    Digitization Principle and ID - Another Dimension - 1000100101001

  • 7

    Bring multiple context

    Goal- Modifying the context - David wanted to make the message stronger by bringing in more context from other art works that can be easily identified by the viewer (Ease of the viewer to understand other contexts)

    Subject - Viewer

    Object- The Death of Socrates (Art)

    Blocker - Adding more context from other art works makes it harder to design keeping The Death of Socrates context intact (Ease of creation)

    Solution - David creates multiple innovations to bring additional context to this art

    1) the gesture of Socrates is actually the gesture of Plato from Raphel’s school of Athens In the center of the fresco, at its architecture's central vanishing point, are the two undisputed main subjects: Plato on the left and Aristotle, his student, on the right.
    2) David’s signature can be spotted on the gray bench on which a man in is sitting with coral robe. That is Crito, a companion of Socrates depicted in Plato's works. It's believed this signature placement means David related most to Crito. This means the painter saw himself as someone who "clutches at the morals and values that Socrates represents," which is suggested by how Crito clutches at the philosopher's thigh.

    Digitization Principle and ID - Merging - 01000010010