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Witnessing Terror: French Revolutionary Prints, 1792-94
13:00 - 17:00
From the trial and execution of Louis XVI to the fall of Robespierre
Image based on Jean-Paul Marat by Jacques-Louis Copia (after Jacques-Louis David) (detail), 1794, LDUCS-10556. Design Angela Scott ©UCL Art Museum
The Making of Martyrs
Photo © Mary Hinkley
A group of revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace, confronted Louis XVI and forced him to wear a revolutionary bonnet
Louis XVI by Noel Lemire (1724 – 1801) After Jean Michel Moreau (1741 – 1814), , 1792, LDUCS-10058
An iconic engraving of 'Friend of the People' Jean-Paul Marat portrayed as a Christ-like figure
This print of Jean-Paul Marat from 1794 is of an iconic image created by celebrated revolutionary artist Jacques-Louis David at the request of the revolutionary government. It was used to disseminate the image of Marat's sacrifice throughout the Republic.
Artist - Jacques-Louis Copia (after Jacques-Louis David). UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10556
Portrayed with short hair in preparation for the guillotine 'she is leading us to our death, but she is showing us how to die'
Marie-Anne Charlotte Corday, 1793, who stabbed the 'Friend of the People' Jean-Paul Marat to death in his bath
by Pierre-Michel Alix. UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10542
Robespierre is described as an ‘execrable tyrant’, 'nothing could quench his thirst for human blood’
Maximilien de Robespierre, 1798-1817,by Charles François Gabriel Levachez & Jean Duplessi-Bertaux,UCL Art Museum LDUCS-4536
Extracts from the letters of dowager duchess D’Elbeuf, a hitherto unknown witness to the Revolution, feature in the exhibition
The Hôtel d’Elbeuf shared the square to its front – the Place du Carrousel [see pinpoint on map] – with the Tuileries Palace, which during the Terror housed the National Assembly and the Committee of Public Safety
Plan routier de la ville et faubourg de Paris, 1776 / chez Lattré. On loan from the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Studies, EF.15 Lat. Photo: Mary Hinkley
Passports and identity documents
New laws stipulated that even travellers within France should carry proof of identity. Passports and identity documents represented a contradiction between principles of universal liberty and the more pragmatic requirements of revolutionary government.
On loan from private collection. Photo © Mary Hinkley
Liberty or Death
Photo: Mary Hinkley
New laws required suspects to prove their own innocence, reducing the sentence to one of death or acquittal
Photo: Mary Hinkley
Portraiture helped familiarise people with images of the Revolution’s new leaders
Circular Print of Assignats and Prints of Revolutionary Characters used to Decorate a Tobacco Box (detail), c.1796.
Artist unknown. UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10129
French Revolution currency, coins and paper notes known as assignats, playing cards and other ephemera from the period of the Terror
The Republican Calendar
The introduction of the Republican Calendar was an attempt to remake time itself.
Photo: Mary Hinkley
British and German images catering to a royalist audience beyond France were imbued with sentimental qualities
Louis XVI bids farewell to his family the day before his execution, c.1795-99.
by Eberhard Siegried Henne (after Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, Daniel Nikolaus). UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10553
Marie-Antoinette.
Photo:Mary Hinkley
Revolutionary Paris
The largest city in Europe after London, Paris was transformed during the Terror years. The emigration of the wealthiest nobility changed the population balance and the urban economy.
Photo © Mary Hinkley
Madame sans Culotte, c.1793-94,
Artist unknown. UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10098
The Day of the 10th August: To brave sans culottes, c.1792-93,
Artist unknown. UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10142
The End of the Terror
The coup of summer 1794 known as 9 Thermidor, after its date in the Republican Calendar marked the end of the Terror. Robespierre and his supporters were arrested and guillotined. This coup rmarked a withdrawal from policies of terror but also the end of many earlier democratic and welfare gains. Photo: Mary Hinkley
The Night of the 9 and 10 Thermidor Year II, c.1794-1805
by Jean-Joseph-Francois Tassaert (after Fulchran Jean Harriet). UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10581
About Witnessing Terror
Our latest exhibition focuses on a period of the French Revolution known as the Terror (1792-94) that was characterised by a political culture of violence when public executions were rife.
The prints on display offer visitors a glimpse of the visual material that the French and the rest of Europe were exposed to when events that had no precedent in Europe were unfolding before them at rapid speed in the absence of the 24hr news channels and social media platforms of the 21st century.
From portraits of revolutionary martyrs to dramatic scenes of Parisian crowds, prints provide a unique insight into how people understood life around them. Alongside these, we’ll be showing everyday images and objects such as paper money, passports, maps and placards.
Together, this visual legacy invites reflection on the role images played in how state-sponsored violence came to be perceived by supporters of the revolution as something acceptable and beyond that how we react to acts of political violence.
This exhibition draws on current research at UCL and Queen Mary University.
Visit UCL Art Museum webpage for opening times and to book your ticket
Discover more about the exhibition on our Project pages
From the trial and execution of Louis XVI to the fall of Robespierre
Image based on Jean-Paul Marat by Jacques-Louis Copia (after Jacques-Louis David) (detail), 1794, LDUCS-10556. Design Angela Scott ©UCL Art Museum
The Making of Martyrs
Photo © Mary Hinkley
A group of revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace, confronted Louis XVI and forced him to wear a revolutionary bonnet
Louis XVI by Noel Lemire (1724 – 1801) After Jean Michel Moreau (1741 – 1814), , 1792, LDUCS-10058
An iconic engraving of 'Friend of the People' Jean-Paul Marat portrayed as a Christ-like figure
This print of Jean-Paul Marat from 1794 is of an iconic image created by celebrated revolutionary artist Jacques-Louis David at the request of the revolutionary government. It was used to disseminate the image of Marat's sacrifice throughout the Republic.
Artist - Jacques-Louis Copia (after Jacques-Louis David). UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10556
Portrayed with short hair in preparation for the guillotine 'she is leading us to our death, but she is showing us how to die'
Marie-Anne Charlotte Corday, 1793, who stabbed the 'Friend of the People' Jean-Paul Marat to death in his bath
by Pierre-Michel Alix. UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10542
Robespierre is described as an ‘execrable tyrant’, 'nothing could quench his thirst for human blood’
Maximilien de Robespierre, 1798-1817,by Charles François Gabriel Levachez & Jean Duplessi-Bertaux,UCL Art Museum LDUCS-4536
Extracts from the letters of dowager duchess D’Elbeuf, a hitherto unknown witness to the Revolution, feature in the exhibition
The Hôtel d’Elbeuf shared the square to its front – the Place du Carrousel [see pinpoint on map] – with the Tuileries Palace, which during the Terror housed the National Assembly and the Committee of Public Safety
Plan routier de la ville et faubourg de Paris, 1776 / chez Lattré. On loan from the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Studies, EF.15 Lat. Photo: Mary Hinkley
Passports and identity documents
New laws stipulated that even travellers within France should carry proof of identity. Passports and identity documents represented a contradiction between principles of universal liberty and the more pragmatic requirements of revolutionary government.
On loan from private collection. Photo © Mary Hinkley
Liberty or Death
Photo: Mary Hinkley
New laws required suspects to prove their own innocence, reducing the sentence to one of death or acquittal
Photo: Mary Hinkley
Portraiture helped familiarise people with images of the Revolution’s new leaders
Circular Print of Assignats and Prints of Revolutionary Characters used to Decorate a Tobacco Box (detail), c.1796.
Artist unknown. UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10129
French Revolution currency, coins and paper notes known as assignats, playing cards and other ephemera from the period of the Terror
The Republican Calendar
The introduction of the Republican Calendar was an attempt to remake time itself.
Photo: Mary Hinkley
British and German images catering to a royalist audience beyond France were imbued with sentimental qualities
Louis XVI bids farewell to his family the day before his execution, c.1795-99.
by Eberhard Siegried Henne (after Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, Daniel Nikolaus). UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10553
Marie-Antoinette.
Photo:Mary Hinkley
Revolutionary Paris
The largest city in Europe after London, Paris was transformed during the Terror years. The emigration of the wealthiest nobility changed the population balance and the urban economy.
Photo © Mary Hinkley
Madame sans Culotte, c.1793-94,
Artist unknown. UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10098
The Day of the 10th August: To brave sans culottes, c.1792-93,
Artist unknown. UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10142
The End of the Terror
The coup of summer 1794 known as 9 Thermidor, after its date in the Republican Calendar marked the end of the Terror. Robespierre and his supporters were arrested and guillotined. This coup rmarked a withdrawal from policies of terror but also the end of many earlier democratic and welfare gains. Photo: Mary Hinkley
The Night of the 9 and 10 Thermidor Year II, c.1794-1805
by Jean-Joseph-Francois Tassaert (after Fulchran Jean Harriet). UCL Art Museum LDUCS-10581
About Witnessing Terror
Our latest exhibition focuses on a period of the French Revolution known as the Terror (1792-94) that was characterised by a political culture of violence when public executions were rife.
The prints on display offer visitors a glimpse of the visual material that the French and the rest of Europe were exposed to when events that had no precedent in Europe were unfolding before them at rapid speed in the absence of the 24hr news channels and social media platforms of the 21st century.
From portraits of revolutionary martyrs to dramatic scenes of Parisian crowds, prints provide a unique insight into how people understood life around them. Alongside these, we’ll be showing everyday images and objects such as paper money, passports, maps and placards.
Together, this visual legacy invites reflection on the role images played in how state-sponsored violence came to be perceived by supporters of the revolution as something acceptable and beyond that how we react to acts of political violence.
This exhibition draws on current research at UCL and Queen Mary University.
Visit UCL Art Museum webpage for opening times and to book your ticket
Discover more about the exhibition on our Project pages
Tuesday, January 14, 2020 - 13:00 to Thursday, June 10, 2021 - 17:00
UCL Art Museum Event UCL Art Museum