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

The following account of the Bonnet-Rouge's prison in the Maison des Oiseaux is taken from the memoirs of Voltaire's great-nephew Al...

Whatever can be imagined that is ferocious, tyrannical and inhuman, was found in the character of our commissaries, without accepting one am...

Besides his series of named Revolutionaries, Vivant Denon produced a number of other vivid drawings of Revolutionary scenes.  The Metropolit...

Metropolitan Museum. Severed head, said to be that of Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre (1758-1794), guillotined July 28, 179...

Vivant Denon produced a number of quirky and disturbing "heads" of well-known Revolutionaries, purportedly drawn from life before ...

The sketch by David of Marie-Antoinette "on her way to the scaffold" is an image of enormous resonance and iconic status  - not on...

David and Danton - preliminary thoughts David's contribution to the iconography of Danton is fraught with doubtful ascriptions, but also...

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 rea...

  Pierre-Alexandre Wille, Portrait of Charlotte Corday, 1793 Maison (1972), Plate 34 I found it this striking image of  Charlotte Corday, dr...

Paintings and Drawings  Although there are a number of different  depictions of Bébé, the only definite portrait from life is this oil by Je...