The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 26, 2024
The Storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789
1790
(French, 1764–1838)
Sheet: 41.6 x 58.5 cm (16 3/8 x 23 1/16 in.); Image: 36.9 x 58.1 cm (14 1/2 x 22 7/8 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Baudicour 1859-61, pp. 313-14; cat. no. 1
Location: not on view
Description
Overtaking the Bastille, a fortress prison and symbol of the monarchy’s power, was a turning point in the French Revolution (1789–99). This etching of the successful rebellion is the only print made by the history painter Charles Thévenin. Typically, artists recorded historical events in paintings that printmakers then engraved with tools called burins, but in this case Thévenin drew his composition directly on the prepared etching plate, capturing a sense of the excitement he claimed to have witnessed firsthand. A newspaper announcement for the etching marveled at its capacity to expediently relate the emotional spirit of the revolutionary event, for which viewers would otherwise have to “await vainly from the cold burin.”- Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
- {{cite web|title=The Storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789 |url=false|author=Charles Thévenin|year=1790|access-date=26 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.21