Browse Items (256 total)
The Indigo Plant Farm 1667-1671
This print depicts and labels the essential components of a plantation producing indigo, a blue dye used for coloring cloth. Slaves are shown here working at different parts of the production process. In 1789, over 3,000 plantations in Saint Domingue…
The Joyous Accord 1789
This allegorical image represents the sentiments of social unity that the National Assembly sought to promote through the Festival of the Federation of 14 July 1790. This festival, though technically but a military parade of units from around the…
The King Accepting the Constitution amid the National Assembly, 14 September 1791 1792
The Estates–General, reborn as the National Assembly, finished its work by completing a new constitution. This document provided for an executive—the King—as well as a legislative body. Suffrage was male and restricted to certain economic levels.…
The King Returns to Paris 1802
From Berthault’s series of great moments in the Revolution, this engraving presents a version of events on 6 October 1789 favorable to the King. Reminiscent of orderly ceremonial royal appearances, this image suggests that the outcome stemmed from…
The Marseillaise 1938
A similar emphasis on patriotic unity can be seen in Jean Renoir’s film, La Marseillaise (1938). The movie tells the story of France’s national anthem, composed by Rouget de Lisle as a way to rally the troops. The song, written for soldiers from…
The Mode of exterminating the Black Army as practised by the French 1805
The fighting between the French and the Haitians was very bloody. When the French tried to put down Toussaint in 1802, it took them some five months with an expeditionary force of 23,000. Supplied by locals, the French seized the towns, gradually…
The Mode of training Blood Hounds in St. Domingo, and of exercising them by Chasseurs 1805
This image reveals grotesque mistreatment of blacks even during training exercises. Here a cavalryman (chasseur) plans to use a black as a live prey for hunting dogs.
The Pathos of Death
Locked up in the Temple prison, there was little for the family to do but await the likely result. This image shows the grief suffusing the entire situation.
The Queen Exhausted 1857-00-00
An image produced well after the Revolution shows a Queen, assaulted by the gaze of the people, controlled by the soldier, and tentative in her stance and appearance.
The Queen in Paris
Confined to her cell, the Queen is as dejected as her husband.