Siege of the Bastille (Cholat)

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La Prise de la Bastille: 14 juillet 1789
English: The Taking of the Bastille: 14 July 1789
ArtistClaude Cholat
Year1789
TypeGouache
OwnerCarnavalet Museum

Siege of the Bastille is a gouache painting by Claude Cholat, now in the Carnavalet Museum in Paris, France.

Details[edit]

Claude Cholat was a wine merchant living in Paris on the rue Noyer at the start of the French Revolution in 1789.[1] On the morning of 14 July a large Revolutionary crowd gathered outside the royal prison called the Bastille and in the afternoon fighting broke out between the crowd and the royal garrison.[2] Cholat fought on the side of the Revolutionaries, manning one of their cannon during the battle. Afterwards, Cholat produced a famous amateur gouache painting showing the events of the day; produced in primitive, naive style, it combines all the events of the day into a single graphical representation.[3]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Schama, p.340.
  2. ^ Schama, p.340-1.
  3. ^ Schama, p.340, fig.6.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Schama, Simon. (2004) Citizens: a Chronicle of the French Revolution London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-101727-3.