Romanticism In Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading The People

← Doyle, William. The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2001

In Timothy Tackett’s When the King Took Flight, it’s explained how Louis XVI’s flight to Varennes resulted in escalating events to happen in the French Revolution that changed and shaped the history of France. In his flight to escape the revolution and upon his capture, he unintentionally created a domino effect that rippled throughout France with consequences that were far from his original plans when attempting to escape the country. This essay will explain how the flight to Varennes radicalized the revolution by further weakening the monarchy and its authority along with its image, that the most significant reaction was that it opened ideas to new forms of government, and that the seeds for this radicalism was already present.

The external thread of foreign armies on French soil and the internal threat to the french revolutionary government , which

Many attribute the evolution of the French revolution as the catalyst for redirection of the style of artwork from Baroque and Rococo to Neoclassical and Romanticism. Two leading masterpieces that support this aspect are respectively: Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, (c. 1784) and Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, (c. 1830). As commented in Essential Humanities (2016), the French revolution “in all its heroic glory and grisly destruction” (par. 10) is masterfully portrayed in Delacroix 's personification of liberty. In addition, the summons for commitment to the cause of freedom is classically rendered in David 's vow of victory or death. Within this essay both of these paintings are examined in regards to their connection to the French revolution.

had been formed. As they met at the church of St. Louis, the King was delayed

Liberty, a virtue promised to countless groups and individuals throughout history, was temporarily achieved during the French Revolution. Unfortunately, it was stripped away from those who needed and wanted it most rather shortly after it was obtained. In 1789, when the people of Paris stormed the Bastille, they acted as catalysts for what would evolve into the Revolution. Shortly thereafter, a group of poor, brawny, enraged parisian women stormed Versailles,

The Federalists were opposed to supporting the French, and this belief is backed up by the author’s rash description of the current state of France. France had an opportunity had freedom, but in the eyes of the author, they have squandered that chance. In the event of the violence spreading to the United States the author is optimistic that the people will band together in defense of the government, and all that the country stands for.

The importance of nationalism within the French Revolution was due to a conscription, called the Levee en Masse, that was encouraged by Napoleon Bonaparte. During the War of the First Coalition, Bonaparte encourages his troops by preaching that the republican troops of France are the only ones who were able to endure the battles the infatntry troops are the continued glory of France(Doc 6). Ideally, Bonaparte desired for his distressed troops to be joyous that they are in battle for the French. The intended audience for Bonaparte’s speech is for the soldiers who were forced to be in war who did want to fight for the corrupt government in France. Since many of the conscripted men were not fighting for what they believed in, the soldiers did not make an attempt to win a battle. With most of the soldiers without motivation, Bonaparte attempts to cause the soldiers who are against the war to become imperious through nationalism. Nationalism in France was not only expressed through speeches, but also through art. The painting, “The Planting of the Liberty Tree,” by Pierre Antoine Lesueur emphasizes French nationalism by depicting the National Assembly digging the hole for the tree, and the people planting the tree. Leseur purposely depicts the National Assembly digging the hole for the liberty tree, since the National Assembly led the way for liberty in France. While, Leseur depicted the people planting the tree since without the people, there can not be liberty. This nationalistic painting emphasizes that the French should be proud that there is a way for the possibility of liberty, equality, and fraternity. This magnificent painting describes the ideal nationalistic society that should exist in France for the French Revolution to

The historical context behind the “Liberty Leading the People”, Delacroix witness the growing instability in Paris, as the

Rebel or Murder! Have you ever wondered who was the first person to fight for the freedom of France.

Timothy Tackett’s book When the King Took Flight focuses on arguably the most consequential event in the French Revolution. King Louis XVI and his family’s attempt to escape France would influence an atmosphere of violence that would only continue to worsen. King Louis XVI regretted signing and accepting the Civil Constitution of the Clergy earlier in July 1790. Deciding to flee the country he assumed that through foreign intervention or negotiating he could change parts of the constitution he disagreed with. However he would be recognized and captured in Varennes. The king underestimated the true meaning and appeal of the revolution (87). His misunderstanding of the revolution led the way for the destruction of kingship and the monarchy itself. This decision had given power to the sans-culottes and the idea of a republic. While the kings flight to Varennes had many unintended consequences it serves as a crucial turning point for the revolution.

The Royal Family of France’s attempted escape on June 20th, 1791 made many people very unhappy with the King. The mob, ever ready to exercise the uncontrolled Rights of Men, made a mock parade of the King’s Arms in the market places, and, dashing them and the figure of a crown to the ground, they trampled upon them, crying out, “Since the King has abandoned what he owed to his high situation, let us trample upon the ensigns of royalty” (Ascherson 48)! The Royal Family not only lost many of its followers through their attempted escape, but also because King Louis XVI kept making bad decisions, ones that had no benefit to France or its people. The people wanted someone who would lead them into a revolution and change France for the better, not because they wanted the power, but because they believed in France and wanted it to become a great nation. That man was Robespierre, who after the flight of the King followed the Jacobin club in its move toward republicanism. He called for universal male suffrage and the end of property qualifications for voting and office holding (Blumberg 290). Robespierre wanted to make France a republic, a government for the people and by the people, a country where everyone had the freedoms and rights they deserved. In January of 1793, Robespierre voted on whether or not he thought that King Louis should be executed for his actions. At the Convention on the trial

The French Revolution began as an expression of rebellion against centuries of absolute rule in France. After an interim of experimental liberalism under the rule of Jacobins and Girondins and then the infamous reign of terror, the people of French were drawn to a man who promised them a return to stability, and  honor through the expansion of empire. France and it’s people had long yearned for this sens eof honour, it had seemed, and could finally sens eit in a lasting rpesence under the rule of their prodigious, unbeatable general, Napoleon Bonaparte. He would soon take the reigns of civil government as well and become yet another Absolutist ruler, yet this

Many Historians have come to the decisive conclusion that the French Revolution, an event that characterises Modern European History, has changed Europe. It was a time period that took place prior to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, between 1789 and the late 1970s. it denotes a time period in which the French civilians were aroused unanimously in overturning the traditionalistic “institutions” such as the monarchy and the feudal system. Though the causes of such an event remain inexplicit, intriguing arguments can be drawn in considering an array of reasons that initially sparked it. One plausible assumption has been that it was merely the result of the assumed divine power that King Louis XVI had that ignited the civilians’ revolt. This is particularly acceptable, seeing that this event was draped in the uprooting ideals of Enlightenment. From this pivotal event in Modern History, Historians have gained an insightful scope of not only the evolution of peasantry and lower-societal revolts against an usurping power (i.e nobility) and in some occasions their demise, but have also gained insights into the unnoticed power of the working class. Ultimately the major havoc-inducing factor that led to the crisis of the Ancien Regime can be a derived from a state of hierarchal power. The division of class and the prestigious stance of the nobility helped rouse the

The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 sparked a steady stream of political artwork showing scenes of battle and rebellious uprising. Eugene Delacroix’s portrait of Liberty Leading the People, 29 July 1830 reflects the events of the French banded together from varying classes in battle following a bare breasted Liberty. Ernest Meissonier’s painting The Barricade in Rue Mortellerie, Paris, June 1848 is a sad image of a drab Parisian street with dead revolutionaries as a result of social class fighting.