Jacques-Louis David: The death of Bara (1794)

(Musée Calvet, Avignon, France)

A painting by the French artist Jacques-Louis David (1748 – 1825). Joseph Bara (1779-1793) was a young French buy who was attached as a drummer to the French army during the French revolution. He was killed while fighting against French royalists during the war in the Vendée (1793). The young French republic needed heroes so the death of the 13 year old Bara was quickly exploited by the President of the National Convention, Maximilien Robespierre. Bara was praised in various propaganda stating the Bara was trapped by the Royalists and that he choose to die for the Republic (in reality he was killed while stealing horses). Bara was the subject of various statues and paintings, including this unfinished painting of David. The painting was part of a set dedicated to martyrs of the French revolution (the others were 'the death of Jean-Paul Marat' and 'The Last Moments of Michel Lepeletier'). Painting from 1794.