Les derniers moments de Michel Lepeletier

David painted Les Derniers Moments de Michel Lepeletier around 1793, a Revolutionary martyr painting commemorating the deputy who was assassinated the day before Louis XVI's execution. The work was destroyed after the Restoration, and its appearance is known only through engravings and a partial preparatory drawing. Like the contemporaneous Death of Marat, it presented a Revolutionary victim in the language of sacred martyrdom, the dead body given the dignity normally reserved for religious subjects. The painting belonged to David's most politically engaged period and formed part of his systematic effort to create a visual mythology for the French Republic through images of its martyred founders.

Based on surviving engravings and copies, David composed the dead Lepeletier in a manner recalling Christian martyrdom imagery, with the sword of assassination hanging above the body. The stark composition and emotional directness followed the model David established with his political martyr paintings.