Citizens And Kings And Revolutions

[molly bloom]

For God's sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been deposed, some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed,
All murdered.

Richard II, Act 3, Scene 2, lines 155-160

Or as others saw it:

Allons ! Enfants de la Patrie !
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie,
L'étendard sanglant est levé ! (Bis)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes.
Aux armes, citoyens !

The Royal Academy has an exhibition dedicated to the various types of portraits and paintings associated with the various revolutions that took place in Europe and the Americas from 1760-1830.

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/citizensandkings/

It's well worth a visit to see how newcomers to thrones rapidly adapted themselves to the business of iconography and propaganda, either in the service of the state or themselves- or both, in Napoleon's case.

There are some fascinating portraits of the unlovely rulers too...

Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution, 1760—1830 examines the radical shift that occurred in portraiture, both painted and sculpted, in response to the Enlightenment and the revolutions in Europe and America.

It includes works by the great innovators of portraiture, David and Goya, as well as their contemporaries such as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Roslin, Mengs, Vigee Lebrun and Singleton Copley and their successors, including Ingres, Gros, Lawrence and Runge.

[Zkribbler]

Marat (pictured at the bottom of the OP) was one of the most vile creatures that ever slithered across the pages of history. It's a shame he was stabbed to death in his bath tub rather than fed into the loving jaws of Madam Guillotine, in the way that he disposed of so many of his innocent victims.

[Fake Boris]

I think you don't have a clue...

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
I think you don't have a clue...

Well, he certainly had a disfiguring skin disease, contracted during his time spent hiding 'underground', quite literally in his case, in the sewers.

Jean-Paul Marat, amateur scientist and quack doctor turned ideologue.

His skin disease was intensely pruritic, blistering, began in the perianal region, and was associated with weight loss leading to emaciation. He was sick with it for the three years prior to his assassination, and spent most of this time in his bathtub. My choice is dermatitis herpetiformis. Another pathologist agrees: Am. J. Dermpath. 1: 251, 1979.

http://www.pathguy.com/lectures/skin.htm

From Peter Weiss's 'Marat/Sade':

[Fake Boris]

Zkribbler's comments remind me of an art history class I took. The professor, after showing us The Death of Marat, asked the class who agreed with the death penalty being applied to a paedophile. 80% of the class raised their hand. He then asked who agreed with the execution of Louis XVI. 4 persons raised their hand.

This said, Zkribbler - Marat did not play a prominent role in the Terreur. He actually made quite a few enemies by openly criticizing just about everyone in his articles. Also Molly made you his *****.

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
Zkribbler's comments remind me of an art history class I took. The professor, after showing us The Death of Marat, asked the class who agreed with the death penalty being applied to a paedophile. 80% of the class raised their hand. He then asked who agreed with the execution of Louis XVI. 4 persons raised their hand.

May I add that the class had only 5 pupils, which results in 80% of them agreeing also with the execution of Louis XVI.