In response to Vivian’s final question, I would venture to say that the anonymous “Punishment of Foulon” provides an exceptionally critical depiction of both crowd and victim. As compared with more sympathetic rococo versions of the suffering St.Stephen (whose head and body remain intact), the decapitated torso of Foulon with his grisly head raised on a pike would instead seem to evoke repulsion. Furthermore, the dismembered body of Foulon, deprived of either cognizance or feelings, offers no site for positive audience empathy. In addition, the two men in the right foreground who appear to drag the body through the street with attached cords could represent the “headless” equivalent of their dismembered victim. The artist’s foregrounding of the backside of a dog in the frontal plane of the picture would likewise suggest the irrational and bestial nature of the narrative. When magnified—two men on the right and the man and woman counterpoised at either side of the body appear to replicate a circular “dance of death” around the victim. While it is difficult to discern the details of the torture scene, I would guess that the couple is lifting rocks and preparing to stone the final remains of the victim.

The very presence of some women who participate in the macabre celebration on the street while several others witness the gruesome scene from the right-hand balcony further underscore their engagement in, or identification with the event. Such representations of cruel and vindictive women were at odds with most popular prints that located “virtuous” women attending quietly to their proper functions in their domicile or trade, but rarely in the streets. The very presence and participation of women in the public narrative might have provoked audience incredulity or outrage. Similarly, the anonymous crowd of people carrying bayonets in the background form a shadowy, undifferentiated “headless” mass that embody the violence and mayhem so feared by an apprehensive bourgeoisie. It is likely that this rendition of Foulon’s torture reveals the foreboding of educated or propertied groups about the unbridled energies of the revolutionary crowd.

If we do not know the engraver, the date and situation of publication would be so helpful here. Perhaps, like the Prieur “Hanging of Foulon” print was relatively contemporaneous with the event, but it is also possible that the anonymous artist selected and reinterpreted the famous narrative during the post 1793 period to vilify the egregious nature of Jacobin leadership.