Images of Danton cont. - David

David and Danton - preliminary thoughts

David's contribution to the iconography of Danton is fraught with doubtful ascriptions, but also with psychological imponderables. (Is this really a man who could have calmly sketched a former friend on his way to execution?)

 We know that the artist at one time enjoyed close relations with the Danton family.  He painted a portrait of Danton's first wife Gabrielle Charpentier (now in Troyes) and possibly at least one portrait of Danton himself.  Constance Charpentier was his pupil.  Another pupil, La Neuville painted Danton's mother Madeleine Camus and his sister Mme Menuel.  Boilly made a second home with Danton and depicted Louise Gély playing with one of Danton's sons.(Campagnac,1953, p.348-9).

Images of Danton

In the collective memory of the French Revolution, the larger-than-life figure of Danton is a vivid presence.  It comes as a surprise to realise how few images of Danton there actually are and how little information they yield about what he actually looked like.  Reliable depictions of Danton are small in number and virtually none of them can be deemed portraits "from live". 

 What follows is a preliminary listing (excluding portraits by David, which I am saving for a separate post).

By Constance-Marie Charpentier, Musée Carnavalet [P714] 

https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-carnavalet/oeuvres/
portrait-de-georges-danton-1759-1794-orateur-et-homme-politique-0

Oil on canvas, 40cm x 32.5cm

This is the one portrait which is beyond doubt an authentic likeness, painted by a member of Danton's family and commended for its resemblance by his wife Sophie.

The death of Gabrielle Danton

Claude-André Deseine, bust of Antoinette Gabrielle Charpentier Danton, plaste, 1793. Musée des Beaux-arts, Troyes.

Inscription:
DECEDEE LE 10 FEVRIER ET EXHUMEE LE 17 POUR ETRE MOULEE SUR NATURE PAR DESEINE SOURD ET MUET 1793 


Plaster patiné, Musée de la Révolution française de Vizille.

The death of Danton's first wife Gabrielle Charpentier and his extravagant reaction to it, is part of the myth of his emotion larger-than-life character.   But what exactly happened?