print
- Museum number
- 1854,0812.207
- Title
- Object: The separation of Lewis the Sixteenth from his family...
- Description
-
Louis XVI, about to be led out of the room by officials on the far right, Marie Antoinette holding his right hand, with their children beside her, and Madame Elizabeth (?) holding his left hand; groups on soldiers on the far left, some with torches, and smoke billowing from the staircase. 1793
Stipple
- Production date
- 1793
- Dimensions
-
Height: 515 millimetres
-
Width: 647 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For more information on the subject of this print, see David Bindman, 'The Shadow of the Guillotine' (BMP, 1989, p. 130). For a key-plate to this and the other three plates of the series, see 2010,7081.7385
Bindman 1989
The scene probably shows the cruel and unnecessary separation of Louis XVI from his family in the Temple on the orders of the Mayor of Paris on 29 September 1792. However, the setting appears to be not the Temple but the Palace of the Tuileries, despite the title. The figure with the scroll on the right may well be Pétion, the Mayor of Paris, who was particularly reviled in England, perhaps because of his visit to London in late 1791 when he met many prominent English radicals (Goodwin 1979, pp. 186-8).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1989 May-Sep, BM, Shadow of the Guillotine: Britain and French Revolution
1990 Jan-Mar, Manchester, Whitworth AG, Britain and French Revolution
1990 Jun-Sep, Vizille, Mus/Rev Francaise, Britain and French Revolution
- Associated events
- Associated Event: French Revolution 1789-1799
- Acquisition date
- 1854
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1854,0812.207