Rodama: a blog of 18th-century & Revolutionary France

During the Persian ambassador's six-month stay in Paris, Watteau produced a number of fine drawings of members of his entourage in red a...

In the official view the Persian ambassador long outstayed his welcome.  Diplomatic negotiations concluded and he should have been ready to ...

Oil on paperboard. 9.4cm x 7.5 cm. Signed:  c.r.:A.C. Inscribed on verso:  Ambasadeur [sic] / de Perse / present a Louis XIV http://en...

Anonymous portrait of Jean-Baptiste Carrier (1756-1794) . http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Baptiste_Carrier_1.jpg Thi...

The French Revolution gave us popular government, militant nationalism, mass conscription, Terror, Dechristianisation......and politically ...

Balzac's Les Chouans  contains a famous description of a "Turgotine".  The reference is strictly ironic - this is a miserab...

This monster from the  Alsace Museum of Post and Telecommunication in Riquewihr is a reconstructed "Turgotine", one of a ne...

L ogis  of the abbaye de Sellières as it is today The commune of Romilly-sur-Seine in the department of l'Aube (Champagne-Ardenne...

This old postcard, depicting a Parisian antique shop with Marat's bath on display, is reproduced on half a dozen internet sites....

Here is a vintage postcard of the Marat montage from Madame Tussaud's Parisian rival, the Musée Grévin -  yes, THEY  have the tub! (or ...