early as 1782, and he returned to this early composition now that he had a commission. He consulted Father Jean Adry, a Hellenist and scholar on the subject, on the circumstances of Socrates death. One of Adry's letters has survived; he recommended that Plato should be shown as immobile (although Plato was not actually present), that Crito be shown with more emotion, and that Apollodorus (on the extreme right in the painting) should be visibly filled with emotion. It was during David's first trip to Rome that he began to study the depiction of funerary scenes and to draw many examples. Many of David's major works stem from these funerary drawings. In The Death of Socrates, David examines a philosopher's approach to death. Socrates is stoic and calm because he sees death as a separate, actual realm, a different state of being from life but not an end to being.<ref>Maleuvre, Didier. “David Painting Death.” Diacritics' 30, no. 3 (Fall 200): 1–27. p. 25.</ref> In the painting, Socrates's gesture shows us that he is still teaching, even in the moment before his death. Similar paintings Pierre Peyron, a contemporary of David's, also painted an artistic rendition of the Death of Socrates around 1787. Both Peyron's version and David's version were displayed at the same Salon of 1787. The two had something of a rivalry before, with both hoping to become Director of the French Academy in Rome when the position next opened; the critics felt the two paintings decisively settled the matter in favor of David. Count Potocki derisively stated that Peyron's work "has shown up the quality of David's picture by proving to the public how far beneath him one could be". Another painting depicting the death of Socrates was done by the Italian artist Giambettino Cignaroli in the first half of the 18th century. Cignaroli's work shows Socrates already dead, surrounded by his anguished followers. Yet another depiction of Socrates' death was done by the French artist Jacques-Philippe-Joseph de Saint-Quentin. The work, currently housed at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, dates to circa 1738. Release and reception David debuted the painting at the Paris Salon of 1787, the official art exhibition. The painting received prompt acclaim among David's contemporaries. The English painter Joshua Reynolds wrote that The Death of Socrates was "the greatest work of art since the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's Stanze in the