On the level of the eye, but high above a square in which the guillotine is at work, bodies dangle from lamp-brackets projecting from the wall of a high building on the right. A bishop in his robes and two monks, their hands tied, hang close together from the horizontal bar. On the lantern sits a ragged, bare-legged sansculotte playing a fiddle, looking down with smiling triumph at the crowd; he is in back view, his bony right foot planted on the head of the dead bishop. On his cap are the words 'ca ira'. He wears a bag-wig and two daggers dripping blood are thrust through his belt. To the bracket is tied the bishop's crozier, surmounted by the cap of 'libertas'. In the wall immediately behind is a crucifix in a niche; to this is affixed a placard: 'bon soir monsieur'; at its foot are a skull and cross-bones. From another projecting lantern in the middle distance hangs a judge in his robes between the scales and sword of justice, similarly suspended. The high scaffold is surrounded by a sea of bonnets-rouges, waving exultantly as the guillotine falls on louis xvi. A ragged and grinning sansculotte hauls at the wheel which releases the blade (on which is a crown). From the guillotine flies a tricolour flag inscribed 'vive l'égalité (cf. Bmsat 8292, &c). Ragged sansculottes holding spears stand on the scaffold. The windows of the adjoining houses are crowded with spectators. Above their roofs a church dome (? 'l'assomption') is on fire. Beneath the title: 'religion, justice, loyalty, & all the bugbears of unenlighten'd minds, farewell!' 12 february 1793
hand-coloured etching and engraving. Date: 1793. Dimensions: Height: 350 mm; Width: 248 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre, . Collection: British Museum. The zenith of French glory; -the pinnacle of liberty (BM 1851,0901.643)
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