THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE'S LAME HOMAGE TO THE PLEBES

TO UNITE THE FRENCH AROUND HIM, LOUIS-PHILIPPE COMPLETES THE MONUMENT THAT NAPOLEON BEGAN

(IN 1836)

He thanks the humble for bringing him to power by showing soldiers as men of the people for the first time:

Claude Abron

Till then, warriors were shown as Romans, whether they were kings, nobles — adversaries included  — or leaders of mercenaries...

Louis XIII at place des Vosges,  Louis XIV at the Musée Carnavalet

At the Saint-Denis gate, 1674 / Carolyn Ristau

Nobles fight other nobles, not commoners 

Soldiers' Pay, scene from the tapestry The Fruits of War., 1546-1548 at the Renaissance Museum / zoom

But commoners were anonymous...

             The Angel of Death Defeats Sennarcherib, 17th century / zoom

Like the fighters in paintings about 1830.

 

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So soldiers of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies on the Arc are courageous, determined, individualized, ordinary...

Photos from the diorama at the arch's summit

And need binoculars to decipher:

          Claude Abron

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Next,

The July Column, as evasive