At the time when the death-sentence of Louis XVI was passed, Robespierre had eighteen months to live, Danton fifteen, Vergniaud nine, Marat five months and three weeks, and Lepelletier-Saint-Fargeau one day! Brief and terrible was the breath of life in those days.
Late 18th C Diamond Gold & Silver Necklace and Diamond Set Portrait Pendant. Silver flower & leaf motif necklace with gilt back 15ct clasp, set with 74 rose cut diamonds (total approx. 1.35ct). With shield shaped diamond set portrait pendant with hand painted images of Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette.
In obvious ways they were strikingly different: Louis beginning to put on weight, Antoinette slim; he steady, she quick; he reserved, she open; he with few close friends, she with many; he awkward, she majestic; he seeing the dark side, she the bright; he a keen reader, she bored by books; he unmusical, she happy with harp and clavichord.
But at a deeper level they possessed traits in common. Both had a lot of heart; they felt for those less fortunate than themselves, they loved their children and were happiest when with them. Both had a sense of duty and wanted above everything to do their job well.
At a quarter past ten the king rose first; they all followed him; I opened the door; the queen held the king by the right arm; Their Majesties each gave a hand to the dauphin; Madame Royale on the left clasped the king’s body; Madame Élisabeth, on the same side but a little behind the rest, had caught the left arm of her brother. They made a few steps towards the entrance, uttering the most sorrowful moans.
“I assure you,” said the king, “that I will see you to-morrow at eight o'clock.”
“You promise us?” they all cried.
“Yes, I promise it.”
“Why not at seven o'clock?” said the queen.
“Well, then, yes, at seven o'clock,” replied the king.
“Adieu–” He uttered that “adieu” in so expressive a manner that the sobs redoubled.
“Terrible news from Paris. Thursday morning the palace [of the Tuileries] was attacked; the king and queen escaped to the Assembly. At one o´clock the populace were fighting in the courtyard and the Carousel. Blood flowed in streams; many killed and hanged; the palace forced on all sides; eight pieces of cannon levelled and firing upon it […] My god, what horrors!
[…] Mercy said in the evening that the Assembly had surrounded itself with cannon, and that step awed the factious. The king had either been deposed, or had abdicated of his own accord.”
- Axel von Fersen in his journal on the 13th of August 1792, three days after the events at the Assembly.
This day marks the anniversary of the death of Louis Capet (formerly called Louis XVI), who was executed on 21 January 1793. Traditionally, this event is commemorated in republican circles by holding a calf’s head dinner.
The tradition traces back to a pamphlet titled La tête ou l'oreille de cochon, which was published by a certain Romeau in 1794: therein, he proposes, among other things, to celebrate the death of the tyrant by eating the ear or head of a pig every year on 21 January. The equation of Louis Capet with a pig was a common trope in the revolutionary press, and the image of the roi-cochon can be found in numerous contemporary caricatures.
It is not entirely clear when the pig’s head was replaced by the one of a calf in the tradition. According to Flaubert’s L'Éducation sentimentale (1869), the calf’s head dinner is based on a tradition invented by English republicans, who thereby commemorated the execution of Charles I (30 January 1649).
In France, this ritual gained popularity on the eve of the Revolution of 1848 ; as the July Monarchy became increasingly reactionary and repressive under Guizot’s cabinet, the opposition organised a campaign of calf’s head dinners. This mobilised the republican circles and, ultimately, contributed to the outbreak of the February Revolution and the end of the July Monarchy.
While this tradition has lost much of its popularity over time – there is even an anecdote about Michelle Vovelle’s vain attempt to organise a dîner de la tête de veau at the Sorbonne in 1986 –, it is still celebrated today in certain republican circles, particularly in France.
On Monday, 21 January 1793, at quarter past ten o’clock in the morning on the Place de la Révolution, the tyrant, formerly called Louis XVI, fell under the blade of the Laws. This great act of justice has distressed the Aristocracy, annihilated the Royal superstition, and the created the republic. It confers a great character on the National Convention and renders it worthy of the trust of the French… it was in vain that an audacious faction and insidious orators exhausted all resources of calumny, of charlatanism and of delaying tactics ; the courage of the republicans triumphed: the majority of the Convention remained unwavering in its principles, and the genius of intrigue ceded to the genius of Liberty and to the Ascendancy of virtue.
Extract from the 3rd [issue of] Lettres de Maximilien Robespierre à ses commetans.
Some rather morbid copperplate engravings depicting the death of Louis XVI of France (1793) were folded up in this contemporary German book about the monarch.
The book (actually three works bound together) covers the life and death of the French king, and the loose plates show his execution by guillotine in grisly detail.
It’s been 200+ years and I’m still mad at Joseph Hauzinger for the way he altered the posing of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette from his preparatory sketch to the final painting.
On May 16th, 1770, Marie Antoinette of Austria and Louis-Auguste of France were married in a lavish wedding ceremony at Versailles. The wedding of the teenage couple, symbolic of a renewed alliance between their respective countries, was celebrated in a contemporary French quatrain:
The rose of the Danube and the lily of the Seine, Mixing their colors, embellish both parts: Form a garland of these flowers, love forms a chain, Happily joining the two nations’ hearts.
Here’s another part of my ’Cool books I own’ series to bridge over the time I’m in Germany. This book is a sticker album from 1933 about historical personalities, which was released by a cigarette company. It covers historical personalities and the events of their time, from early renaissance humanism to the 19th century, and contains loads of neat little portraits, which came in matchboxes and were collected by grandfather back then. Here are two pages from the chapter on the french revolution and If I ever get too bored and get my hands on a good scanner, I might scan all of them.
Here we are ! This new set contains 6 new CC (all made from scratch) inspired by precious pieces of furniture designed by famous cabinetmaker as Riesener or Carlin.
So it includes :
- 1 Jewel Cabinet
- 1 Sideboard (console) which is the lower part of the Jewel Cabinet
The King … did not want to leave the chateau even to take a walk, in the first week after the delivery. When the Queen awoke he was first at her bedside, spent part of the morning with her and came back on different occasions in the afternoon, stayed there all evening and spent his time between the Queen and his august child, to whom he shows the most touching love.
–Ambassador Mercy to Maria Theresa, 25 January 1779 [translation: Margaret MacLeod, There Were Three of Us in the Relationship]
![“Terrible news from Paris. Thursday morning the palace [of the Tuileries] was attacked; the king and](https://64.media.tumblr.com/b49a8565e980ac2d08c5c57b2e8cafad/tumblr_nszhfle0WP1sfhp1io1_500.jpg "“Terrible news from Paris. Thursday morning the palace [of the Tuileries] was attacked; the king and")
