Presenté et dedié a la convention National l'an 2 de la Republique

Description

The little-known Parisian printmaker A. Duplessis specialized in allegorical representations of events surrounding the French Revolution. This large sheet celebrates the 1793 constitution, which was based on the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, with additions including the abolition of slavery and the right of rebellion. Delicate roulette shading contrasts the architectural space occupied by the National Convention with the outside crowds. The burnished beam of light issuing from the cloud at upper right may illuminate Maximilien de Robespierre, the French statesman who advocated for the secularization of the state and led the Reign of Terror.

Presenté et dedié a la convention National l'an 2 de la Republique

A. Duplessis

1793

Accession Number

148581

Medium

Etching and stipple engraving, roulette and burnishing in black on off-white laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 41 × 60.8 cm (16 3/16 × 23 15/16 in.); Sheet: 52.4 × 64.1 cm (20 11/16 × 25 1/4 in.)

Classification

etching

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection