Collections Database

Description:
political event/figure; man; people; outdoor

Label Text:
This painting, a sketch for a larger canvas, depicts a famous episode from the French Revolution. In 1795, a mob broke into a meeting of the National Convention, an elected assembly formed after the fall of the monarchy. Delacroix has chosen to depict the climactic moment after the insurgents killed one of the deputies, whose decapitated head is presented on a pike to President Boissy d’Anglas. The scene is represented as a great wave, rendered in red, black, and white. The mob surges forward toward d’Anglas, who bows to honor the slain man and stands as a single point of calm above the chaos.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1928.13

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.