Analysing the High Art of Propaganda During the French Revolution

Thema Close to the Source: Analysing the High Art of Propaganda during the French Revolution Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat reveals the blurred lines between historical fact and fiction. Cam Wilson, undergraduate student, The University of Melbourne Analysing primary source material is both an The Death of Marat (1793, see Figure 1) by Jacques- important and highly rewarding exercise in historical Louis David is a uniquely complex historical source scholarship. The ability to critically examine and that captures both the brutal reality and the elaborate evaluate primary documents is the foundation of fiction of the French Revolution. The tragic depiction quality historical research. Analysis requires historians of Jean-Paul Marat, the radical journalist and political to look far beyond first impressions of a historical agitator lying dead in his bath, reveals the methods source. They must examine it in fine detail and be employed by political propagandists to manufacture able to communicate their description to the reader. a new ideological reality for the revolutionary state. Reconstructing the historical context of the source Simultaneously, it serves to accentuate the sense of both deepens the analysis and frequently provides tragedy and death the revolution has left in its wake. This analysis examines the multiple meanings of inspiration for further research. Armed with detailed David’s iconic painting to explain how a historical research and observation, the focus of the analysis source with such a deliberate political agenda can is to uncover the intentions of the author and the reveal so much about revolutionary France. message they are trying to convey. Determining the value or ‘weight’ of a historical source is often far Both the painter and his subject were Jacobins and more complicated than simply evaluating the author’s members of the Montagnard political faction, a radical integrity. In history, some of the most elaborately wing of the Legislative Assembly that dominated the constructed lies can harbour the most profound revolution’s trajectory from 1792 to 1794. Under the historical truths. A well-researched and written direction of the Montagnards, many of the revolution’s primary source analysis can impart a close personal most violent and controversial events occurred. affinity between historians and their subjects. This These included the execution of King Louis XVI on 21 January 1793 and the period known as the ‘Reign of relationship fuels the passion of historical inquiry. Terror,’ a brutal purging of political opponents and *** so-called counter-revolutionaries that spanned from 14 Agora Thema LEFT: The letter from Charlotte Corday in Jacques- Louis David’s The Death of Marat (1793). RIGHT: Figure 1 – Jacques- Louis David’s The Death of Marat (1793). 1793 to 1794. Marat was a polarising increasingly unstable environment, figure of the French Revolution. As a Maximilien Robespierre, the leader of radical left-wing journalist he was a the Montagnards, instructed David to revered mouthpiece for the new social formalise the Montagnard’s response order that the revolution promised.1 to Marat’s assassination. Having visited However, he was equally loathed and Marat several days before his death, feared by his political opponents who David made the bold decision to paint held him responsible for promoting his friend as he had last seen him, in the the revolution’s most brutal campaigns bath where he died. of oppression.2 David was deputy for David’s Marat is quintessentially a Paris to the National Convention political painting, a propaganda piece and, like Marat, directed his artistic commissioned by a revolutionary political talent towards producing artwork faction to serve an ideological agenda.5 that supported the Montagnard’s Commissioned the day after Marat’s revolutionary agenda.3 The hidden third death, the painting depicts him lying participant in David’s The Death of Marat 1 Noah Shusterman, The in his bath in the immediate aftermath is Marat’s assassin, Charlotte Corday. French Revolution: Faith, of his assassination. The composition Desire, and Politics (New Corday was a Girondist sympathiser, and contents of the painting have been York: Routledge, 2014), the Girondins being the opposing arranged by David to generate feelings of 31. political faction most persecuted by the sympathy and reverence in his audience. 2 Heather McPherson, Montagnards. She had resolved to kill The focus of the painting, Marat’s face, ‘Historical Fiction: David, Marat both out of retaliation for his role Marat, and Napoleon,’ is placed on the far left in the middle. in the persecution of the Girondins and Studies in Eighteenth- This position requires the viewer to to silence his calls for further violence. Century Culture 21, no. 1 simultaneously look down on Marat and (1992): 184. Marat’s assassination and the directly at him, evoking a sense of both 3 William Vaughan and Helen Weston, Jacques- production of David’s painting pity and respect. Marat’s surroundings are Louis David’s Marat occurred at a time of acute political stark and austere. They include his writing 4 (Cambridge: Cambridge crisis and social upheaval. Instead of materials, a crude wooden box that serves University Press, 2000), strengthening and consolidating the as a table and green and white sheets that 12. Montagnard’s control, the campaign completely obscure his bath. In this way, 4 Vaughan and Weston, of political violence known ominously David presents Marat as a humble and Jacques-Louis David’s as the Reign of Terror was weakening virtuous servant of the people. In his left Marat, 2. the revolutionary movement and hand, Marat holds a letter that identifies 5 Vaughan and Weston, generating increasing public outcry. his assassin, providing a point of focus for Jacques-Louis David’s Marat, 2; McPherson, This, coupled with the 1793 peasant the anger and retribution he intends to ‘Historical Fiction,’ 177. uprising in the province of Vendée stir in his audience. All of these elements 6 Vaughan and Weston, against the revolutionary government, are combined to affect the French people Jacques-Louis David’s signalled the impending downfall on an emotional level and ‘to spur them to Marat, 2. of the Montagnard faction. In this patriotic action.’6 Agora 15 Thema sunken face. As Christ is cradled by the LEFT: Figure 2 – Michelangelo’s Pietà (1498– Virgin Mary, Marat is cradled by his 99). Photograph by Stanislav bath and both martyrs are skirted in Traykov. Used under CC BY folds of white cloth. Just as Christ had 2.5.sw. died for the sins of humanity, David commemorates Marat’s death for the noble cause of the revolution.10 His bath is no longer a medicinal instrument to treat his debilitating skin condition, but the purifying baptismal font of his exemplum virtutis.11 David’s repurposing of Christian imagery was so effective that it spawned the ‘Cult of Marat,’ with streets and towns named in his honour.12 Marat’s posthumous influence became so extreme that Robespierre attempted, unsuccessfully, to reintroduce elements The core recurring theme of David’s of traditional religion in the form of the 7 Khan Academy. ‘Jacques- Marat is the rejection of the traditional ‘Cult of the Supreme Being.’13 This shift Louis David, The Death religious establishment and its long of Marat,’ KhanAcademy would lead to the removal of the painting video, 6:22, accessed held position of authority and influence from public view. 22 May 2015, https:// over France and its people. The www.khanacademy.org/ de-Christianisation of French society, While all historical materials must humanities/monarchy- both spiritually and administratively, be assessed with careful attention enlightenment/ was one of the driving principles of the to historical accuracy, a profound neo-classicism/v/ revolutionary movement, and this can skepticism must be engaged when david-marat. be observed in numerous elements of evaluating David’s Marat. 8 Vaughan and Weston, David’s painting. At the base of Marat’s Jacques-Louis David’s The sheer depth of David’s artistic Marat, 17. wooden crate can be seen the inscription expression, combined with the 9 McPherson, ‘Historical ‘L’an Deux’ (year two). David is dating defenseless posture of his subject, Fiction,’ 184. Marat’s murder in accordance with the encourage the viewer to accept his 10 Vaughan and Weston, recently established French Republican version of events on first impressions. Jacques-Louis David’s 7 Calendar. The dumping of the However, as the art historian Jörg Marat, 15. Gregorian Calendar was a controversial Traeger observes, the painting is ‘not a 11 Vaughan and Weston, and unpopular revolutionary change that reportage, but a political interpretation Jacques-Louis David’s Marat, 15. widely disrupted French society. David’s of the attack.’14 Indeed, closer inspection 12 Stephen Miller, Three use of the new secular calendar serves reveals a deliberate and skillful work to bolster its ascendance and legitimacy. Deaths and Enlightenment of historical fiction that brazenly Thought: Hume, Johnson, Online reproductions of the Marat replaces authenticity with agenda.15 Marat (London: Bucknell are frequently cropped to omit this David has employed a great deal of University Press, 2001), critical detail in David’s composition. artistic licence to ensure a favorable and 125. As a result, great care and attention sympathetic depiction of his subject 13 Vaughan and Weston, must be exercised when using digital while simultaneously diminishing and Jacques-Louis David’s Marat, 17. reproductions of historical sources. disempowering the status of his killer.16 In contrast, the secular martyrdom 14 Jörg Traeger, ‘Marat: La The most frequently cited omission is Religion Civile,’ in David of the painting’s subject is pervasive Marat’s graphic skin condition, which throughout the entire canvas. contre David, 2 vols. ed. was his sole reason for being in the Régis Michel (Paris: With the aggressive implementation bath.

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