Wednesday, September 9, 2015

INSURRECTIONS AS SHOWN BEFORE THE RENOVATION


BARRICADES AND INSURRECTIONS ARE PART OF THE CITY'S LEGEND, BUT EVEN BEFORE THE MUSEUM'S RENOVATION* THEY WERE ALMOST ABSENT  

*In 2016-2022
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Their memory and the museum's portrayal:

  • The name "barricade" comes from barrique, "wine barrel" in old French. The tie harks back to 1588, the "Day of Barricades" when a revolt made Henri III flee:
Zoom, please scroll down (includes account in French)
  • For their movie presentation, please click. Foreign films show them too... 

  • Victor Hugo found those of June 1848 important enough to insert in Les Misérables, though its story takes place 15 years before :

    • At République was an apparition "that seemed built by a mathematician or specter, before which it was impossible not to be thoughtful," but the museum painting shows only army tents.

Camp at the Entry of Boulevard du Temple during the June Days of 1848 by Alexandre Josquin / zoom

 Drawing by Gustave Brion in the original leaflet 


  • At Bastille "the barricade was monstrous...

It reared up like a cyclops at the extremity of the formidable site where July 14 took place... Seeing it evoked immense suffering... when distress becomes catastrophe. ...

The barricade of the Faubourg du Temple, defended by eighty men, attacked by ten thousand, held for three days... not one of the eighty cowards tried to flee, all were killed. "


But the museum showed it fading into the distance:

Msr Affre Tries to Calm the Combatants at the Barricade of the Entry of the Fb. Saint-Antoine by Jean-Jacques Champin, no date / zoom
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Fighting in general was minimized. This painting was placed so high that one could hardly see the combat from the floor:

Riot on the Archevêché Bridge in 1849 by Philippe Chaperon, 1848 / zoom


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Sole exception: Placed alone at eye-level above a chest of drawers, this work was impossible to miss (its location seemed so obvious that I did not take a photo at the time).

The Fight at Saint-Denis Gate by Hippolyte Lecomte, 1830 / zoom

The underclass fighters wear white shirts (the "blouse"). Exceptionally, one is shown full face (please read on). 



Was the painting shown because it concerns the 1830 Revolution, which lets capitalism break through?

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The work is not exhibited now,
and is not among the works on its web site.
The photo comes from Wikipedia.

When these pages show such paintings
they say "not exhibited." 

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