The Death of Seneca

This is a picture David lost with. In 1773 the young painter submitted it for the Prix de Rome, the prize that sent the best students to study in Italy, and it was already his third attempt. The set subject was the death of the Roman philosopher Seneca, ordered by the emperor Nero to take his own life. David crowded his canvas with figures, colour and incident, and the judges preferred a plainer, darker treatment by his rival Pierre Peyron, who worked closer to the severe manner of the ancients then coming into fashion. David went home beaten again. He entered the competition once more the following year, and that time he finally won.