The Death of Marat (detail)
by DAVID, Jacques-Louis, Oil on canvas
In his left hand Marat holds Charlotte Corday’s deceitful note that reads (in David’s own handwriting): ‘July 13 1793: Marie-Anne-Charlotte Corday to citizen Marat/ It is enough for me to be truly wretched to have a right to your kindness’. Corday’s actual note to Marat had ended: I am being persecuted for the sake of Liberty; I am unhappy, that is sufficient to give me the right to your protection’, and the change in wording suggests that she accomplished her murderous deed by appealing to Marat’s kind-hearted sympathy.