A complicated and symmetrical design. Hoche, seated on a rainbow which spans a landscape undergoing military devastation, plays a guillotine as if it were a lyre. He is a handsome young man wearing only a cloak and sash in which is a pair of pistols. He has just kicked off his two heavy spurred jack-boots which fall towards the ground and is unconscious of a falling noose which is about to encircle his neck. His head is surrounded by a circular glory of rays which is framed by the winged and decollated heads of jacobin cherubs shouting hymns of praise; three open books are the 'marsellois hymn' flanked by 'ca ira'. These cherubs, who completely encircle hoche, wear bonnets-rouges; blood gushes from their necks. Above hoche are three platforms of cloud. The largest, above his head, supports the jacobin table of the law (resembling french prints of the 'déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen'), which dominates the design. It is in two tables, and on it are inscribed a reversal of the commandments: 'thou shalt murder' [&c. ]. This is framed by two fasces from which axes project. Above it is a triangle, enclosing the word 'equality', with a plumb-line to show that it is a level (cf. Bmsat 8639). This is framed in a glory whose rays are represented by daggers and bayonets. Three concentric circles of winged heads surround the glory; the heads are of apes, asses, and goats. A monster with webbed wings, hooves, and a tail kneels on each side of the table of the law. That on the left has a heavy body with four heads: goat, ape, ass, and goose. The other has a scaly body with more vicious heads: a mastiff, serpent, crocodile, and a cock with flames darting from mouth and eyes. Armies of jacobins, naked except for bonnets-rouges and (in the foreground) huge sabots, frame this central design, the nearer figures resting on the two platforms of cloud just above the head of hoche. Those on the left are led by victims of the revolution, who carry placards showing their identity. First come 'roland the martyr' and 'condorcet', holding 'progrès de l'esprit' and a bottle labelled 'poison'. A man holds 'recit de mes perils', his neighbour strangles himself. 'marat the martyr' holds a dagger; two quasi-skeletons are 'pétion starv'd [to] death' and 'barbaroux starved to death'. A man in flames holds a faggot. All hold weapons, and massed undifferentiated heads recede in perspective. All of the corresponding crowd on the right are headless, blood gushing from their necks. They kneel in obeisance to hoche, wearing sabots; all hold palm-branches and bonnets-rouges. On the ground beneath the rainbow the republican army is charging unarmed fugitives. In the foreground lie a heap of headless corpses and a pile of heads. Soldiers fire at a prisoner. From the branch of a tree (right) hang two corpses; a sign points to 'la vendee'. Churches and houses are blazing. A river divides the landscape, fugitives are driven into it, and bodies float down the stream. On the farther (left) side are tiny fugitives; the cottages are still intact. Above the blazing scene a corpse-like fury strides through the air, a sword of flame in one hand, a bottle of vitriol or poison in the other. Liquid gushes also from her hideous pendent breasts, serpents form her hair, and fire issues from her slavering mouth. She is followed by a swarm of little monsters who, like her, have small webbed wings. These hold firebrands, chains, halters, daggers, &c. As a pendant to these creatures, a swarm of naked and winged jacobins fly towards the ground on the left of the river, scattering 'assignats'. 11 january? 1798
hand-coloured etching and aquatint. Date: 1798. Dimensions: Height: 500 mm; Width: 387 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux. Collection: British Museum. The Apotheosis of Hoche (BM 1851,0901.953)
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