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| Ricardo André Frantz, Conciergerie. 2005, photograph. Wikimedia Commons. |
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Antonie Vestier, Portrait de François-Joseph Gossec, 1791 |
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| Cathedral of Notre Dame, West façade; Gallery of Kings. |
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Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Portrait de Adélaïde de France. Pastel on paper, 1787. Palace of Versailles. |
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| Jean-Marc Nattier, Madame Victoire of France. Oil on canvas, 1748. Musée national des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles. |
"The Ladies are going to Italy to try the power of their tears and their charms upon the princes of that country. Already the Grand Master of Malta has caused Madame Adelaide to be informed that he will give her his heart and hand as soon as she has quitted France, and that she may count upon the assistance of three galleys and forty-eight cavaliers, young and old. Our Holy Father undertakes to marry Victoire and promises her his army of three hundred men to bring about a counter-revolution."
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| Joseph Ducreux, Jacques-Francois Menou (1750-1810). Pastel, black chalk, blue paper on canvas, late 18th century. Versailles National Museum of Versailles and Trianon. |
With this, the National Assembly permitted them to leave the country, much to the dismay of many. Violent riots broke out in Arnay-le-Ducpreventing their departure for days. Paris too saw its share of rioting over the decision. When the mobs approached the Tuileries, where Louis and his family stayed, they demanded he order his aunts back. Louis held his position, and did not grant their demand nor consider it any further, and the crowds eventually dispersed, and the women made their way to Rome."Europe will doubtless be much astonished, when it learns that the National Assembly of France spent four entire hours in deliberating on the departure of two ladies who would rather hear Mass in Rome than in Paris."
"The nearer the 14th of July approached," says an eye-witness,' "the more did the dearth increase.
Every baker's shop was surrounded by a crowd, to which bread was distributed with the most grudging economy... This bread was generally blackish, earthy, and bitter, producing inflammation of the throat and pain in the bowels.
I have seen flour of detestable quality at the military school and at other depots. I have seen portions of it yellow in colour, with an offensive smell; some forming blocks so hard that they had to be broken into fragments by repeated blows of a hatchet.
For my own part, wearied with the difficulty of procuring this poor bread, and disgusted with that offered to me at the tables d'hote, I avoided this kind of food altogether. In the evening I went to the Cafe du Caveau, where, fortunately, they were kind enough to reserve for me two of those rolls which are called flutes, and this is the only bread I have eaten for a week at a time."
Galart de Montjoie. ["French Society before the Revolution."] In Histoire de la Révolution de France. S.l.: s.n., 1797. 53, ch. XXIX, quoted in Hippolyte Taine, The French Revolution,(New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1913), 4.
Here Sir Boothby lounges in a wooded patch of land surrounded by vegetation and a few sun spots. A little stream of water runs across stones in front of him. The sun sets in the background offering a warm glow on Brooke; the setting provides the ideal place to escape, read and reflect. He has just paused from reading Rousseau, according to the Tate this references his publication of the philosopher's Dialogues. 
| Anonymous, French. Maximilien Robespierre. Oil on canvas. Musée Carnavalet. |
"This man will go far because he believes everything he says."Mirabeau
October 13, 1791 "I am broken-hearted at what I see passing around me, and can only entreat you not to come back. The present moment is too terrible. Although I have courage enough on my own account, I cannot help feeling uneasy for my friends, more especially for one so precious as you. I do not, therefore, wish you to expose yourself uselessly to danger. It is already as much as I can do to face circumstances calmly at the side of the King and my children. Farewell then dear heart! Give me your pity, since, from the very love I bear you, your absence is perhaps a greater trial to me than it is to you."
The Eclectic magazine of foreign literature, science, and art. 1844. New York: Leavitt, Trow, & Co. 531.
"The foulest and most atrocious act the world has ever seen."
Gainsborough Dupont, William Pitt the Younger. Burrell Collection.
Even the palaces and pleasure grounds of the ci-devant royalty are respected as national property, and , as such, are carefully preserved.
The greater part of the furniture has been removed from Versailles- some of the paintings remain. Those by the best Masters have been sent to the Gallery of the Louvre, which is now the National Museum, where the collection greatly exceeds any other exhibition of the fine arts in the world. It is under the care of a committee, appointed to protect the arts, and is maintained in the most superb style. Such is the war, which these Goths and Vandals wage against the arts!
The late Queen's favorite residence of St Cloud remains as when she occupied it . The paintings will be sent to the museum, and the furniture will be sold.
Armand Louis de Gontaut was born April 13, 1747 in Paris. He was born into the title of duc de Lauzun. Later he inherited the title of duc de Biron. He was 'noticed' after writing a intelligent essay on Great Britain's military defenses and after several successful military efforts he became maréchal de camp. But before he was a successful military leader in Connecticut, aiding George Washington, he did a lot of travel and spent a lot of money. Ah the life of the well-to-do!
undeveloped, polite child, the 13 year old Amélie. Although she was sweet and innocent, he saw her as just what she was, a child. In comparison to the voluptuous tart he had been chatting with, his opinion had been formed and he did not care for Amelie at all.
"Great thoughts are always better nursed in the heart's solitude"Marie-Anne Charlotte was born in 1768 to Jacques Francois de Croday et d'Armont and lady Marie Charlotte-Jacqueline of Gauthier des Authieux. Her parents had an ancient noble name, however any fortune the family once had had been lost to time and they lived by very modest means. She was born a fourth child and second daughter. One sister died young, and her brothers left for the army. She also lost her mother.
"Her open forehead, dark and well-arched eyebrows, and eyes of a gray so deep that it was often mistaken for blue, added to her naturally grave and meditative appearance; her nose was straight and well-formed, her mouth serious but exquisitely beautiful...she had a complexion of transparent purity' enhanced by the rich brown hair which fell in thick curls around her neck, according to the fashion of the period."¹She went to live with her aunt, an old royalist, and watched the Revolution develop, listening intently to all the politics but never participating. She learned all about the fall of the Girondists whom she understood Marat to be their prosecutor.
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| Portrait of Charlotte Corday, paintined while she was in prison by Hauer in 1793. Versailles. Photo via Elisabeth |
¹ Corday, Charlotte, Kavanagh, Julia, Woman in France during the Eighteenth Century. New-York; London: Putnam's Sons, 1893. p. 144
