National Assembly Relinquishes All Privileges
This image, part of a series produced to show the most important events of the Revolution, focuses on 4 and 5 August 1789, when the system of privileges came to an end. This legal structure, characteristic of the old regime, guaranteed different rights for different people. Most obviously, nobles had advantages over commoners, but the system was a far more general phenomenon that encompassed guilds, cities, and regions. Almost, everyone participated in this system, but grievances were most obviously directed against the nobility. In destroying privilege, the National Assembly meant to set up a new system, in which every individual was equal before the law.
Isidore-Stanislas Helman (engraver)
Antoine-Jean Duclos (engraver)
Charles Monnet (designer)
<span>Bibliothèque Nationale de France</span>
1790
Public Domain
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/648/|Michel Hennin. <em>Estampes relatives à l'Histoire de France</em>. Tome 119, Pièces 10386-10489, période : 1789
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Speech in the Garden of the Palais–Royal
In this artistic rendition, on 12 July 1789 Camille Desmoulins stands on a table and encourages his listeners to rise against the threat to the Estates–General. He, and others of his ilk, would be successful in bringing about the fall of the Bastille on 14 July.
None Identified
<span>Bibliothèque Nationale de France</span>
1794-1820
Public Domain
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/647/|de Vinck. <em>Un siècle d'histoire de France par l'estampe, 1770-1870</em>. Vol. 9 (pièces 1423-1570), Ancien Régime et Révolution
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German
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Gravy Boat with Phrygian Bonnet
mfr 89.77
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/646/
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The Death of Marat
This famous depiction of Marat’s assassination (1793) is by the unofficial (and sometimes official) artist of the French Revolution, Jacques–Louis David, a leading exponent of the neoclassical style. Scholars have seen this vision as a revolutionary pietà because of the repose of the corpse, so different from that of a normal body in a stage of rigor mortis. David also planned Marat’s funeral on behalf of the government.
Musée d'art ancien of Brussels, Belgium, no. 3261.
1793-07-14
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/632/
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Damiens Being Broken on the Wheel
This straightforward representation of Damiens gives no hint of sympathy for a would–be royal assassin.
None Identified
B<span>ibliothèque Nationale de France</span>
1757-00-00
Public Domain
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/602/|<span>Collection Michel Hennin. <em>Estampes relatives à l'Histoire de France</em>. Tome 102, Pièces 8789-8879, période : 1756-1757</span>
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President of a Revolutionary Committee After the Seal Is Taken Off
Critics of popular action first mastered the art of searing attacks and here sharpen their propaganda skills against this activist worker, who appears to be walking off with his "loot" after the locks have been broken.
None Identified
<span>Bibliothèque Nationale de France</span>
1794-1795
Public Domain
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/601/|Collection de Vinck. <em>Un siècle d'histoire de France par l'estampe, 1770-1870</em>. Vol. 48 (pièces 6461-6583), Ancien Régime et Révolution
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Provincial Painting—Minatures
Surrounded by her children, this woman represents conventionality and respectability.
mfr 86.184
1793-00-00
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/596/
596
Woman with a Basket in Front of a Door to the Prison
Despite the demure expression created by her huge eyes, this woman also shows adherence to the Revolution through her scarf, similar in shape and color to the Phrygian cap.
mfr 85.174
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/546/
546
Madame Sans–Culotte
Women of the Third Estate
Sans-culottes
Emerging from urban revolutionary politics was a workers’ movement called the <em>sans–culottes</em>, a reference to the attire of male artisans. Unlike their wealthier compatriots, they did not wear knee breeches, preferring pants. Thus were they named <em>sans–culottes</em>, which may be translated as "without breeches." Despite such a masculinist appellation, their companions also bore the name. Here is a very respectable but modest woman fulfilling the domestic role most <em>sans–culottes</em> men would have desired for women. She would seem to lack the boldness that women did adopt anyway, as in their march to Versailles in October 1789.
None Identified
<span>Bibliothèque Nationale de France</span>
1793-1794
Public Domain
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/543/|Michel Hennin. <em>Estampes relatives à l'Histoire de France</em>. Tome 134, Pièces 11754-11861, période : 1793
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Assassination of J. P. Marat
An arrested Corday is hustled out of the door, while the inquest begins. The expired Marat, ghastly pale, looks much more realistic than in the David rendition of his death. Also, the bath in the shape of a boot, which differs from most images, is apparently accurate.
Claude-Louis Desrais (designer)
Jacques Marchand (engraver)
<span>Bibliothèque Nationale de France</span>
1793
Public Domain
http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/542/|Michel Hennin. <em>Estampes relatives à l'Histoire de France</em>. Tome 131, Pièces 11489-11586, période : 1793
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