print
- Museum number
- 1868,0822.7131
- Title
- Object: A un peuple libre
- Description
-
Allegorical composition on the French Revolution, with Palloy hanging a portrait of Bailly on a pedestal upon which is set a bust portrait of Louis XVI, crowned by Fame; in the background, at left, Lafayette addressing a crowd, and men demolishing the Bastille; with production detail in scratched lettering, and annotations in pencil. 1790
Etching
- Production date
- 1790
- Dimensions
-
Height: 241 millimetres
-
Width: 196 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See Rolf Reichardt, 'La Bastille, collections du musée Carnavalet', Paris 2009, cat.70, who interprets the central figure lifting the relief as Necker, rather than Palloy: the evidence of the inscription on this impression, which has every chance of being contemporary, suggests that this is wrong. So does the pencil text on the impression in the Musée Carnavalet, which seems to be later, which reads: 'Se vend à Paris chez le Vieih de Varenne, Auteur de la collection des Drapeaux / Rue St Antoine au Magasin des démolitions de la Bastille'. It is curious that the print never seems to have had engraved lettering.
The plate was later reworked as an allegory glorifying Napoleon; the main changes were a bust of Napoleon instead of Louis XVI, the Pantheon replacing the Bastille, La Fayette replaced by flags, and Bailly's portrait masked off.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Associated Event: French Revolution 1790
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0822.7131