The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons

Jacques Louis David

1787

Black chalk, pen and black and brown ink, brush and gray and brown wash, heightened with white gouache

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A scene unfolds in a classical architectural setting with figures in draped garments. In the foreground, a seated man gestures with his hand to his head, while other figures are depicted in various states of distress and mourning. A group of men carry bodies on stretchers in the background.