La Mort de Bara. D'après Jacques-Louis David

Copy after the painting by Jacques-Louis David in the Musée Calvet in Avignon (118 x 155 cm), which Degas visited in 1855. The original is similarly subtle in execution and the slightly higher background is only created in the Frottis ('rubbed') technique. The story of Joseph Bara originates from the news of the heroic death of a 13-year-old in the Vendée, who, according to a letter read out in the convent on December 8, 1793, 'was surrounded yesterday by highwaymen and would rather die than hand over to them the two horses he was traveling with.' (cf. Ekkehard Mai/Anke Repp-Eckert (eds.): Triumph und Tod des Helden. Europäische Historienmalerei von Rubens bis Manet (exh. cat. Cologne/Zurich/Lyon 1987/88), no. 20). Source