Neoclassical painter of the French Revolution
His Death of Marat, depicting his friend Jean-Paul Marat after Charlotte Corday assassinated him on 13 July 1793, became a leading image of the Revolution. After Napoleon's fall the painting long disappeared from public view before its rediscovery.
French painter born in Paris in 1748 and died in Brussels in 1825. He was the preeminent Neoclassical painter of his era, winning fame in the 1780s with The Oath of the Horatii, and an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Robespierre as a member of the Jacobin Club. As a deputy to the National Convention he voted for the execution of Louis XVI, and as a member of the Committee of General Security he took part in the Reign of Terror. After Robespierre's fall he was imprisoned twice in 1794 and 1795, then released. After the Empire was proclaimed in 1804 he became Napoleon's court painter and painted The Coronation of Napoleon. After Napoleon's fall in 1815 he lived in exile in Brussels, where he died. His pupils included Girodet, Gérard, Gros and Ingres.
Career timeline
- 1784Won fame with The Oath of the Horatii
- 1789–1794Supported the Revolution; deputy to the National Convention and member of the Committee of General Security
- 1794–1795Imprisoned twice after Robespierre's fall
- 1804Napoleon's court painter
- 1815–1825Exile in Brussels, where he died
Committee of Public Safety member allied with Robespierre
A lawyer elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791 and the National Convention in 1792, he joined the Committee of Public Safety in 1793. Working with Robespierre and Saint-Just, he drafted the Law of 22 Prairial, which stripped defendants of counsel and sharply increased executions.
A lawyer and deputy in the Legislative Assembly and National Convention, Couthon joined the Mountain. On the Committee of Public Safety he worked closely with Robespierre and Saint-Just and played a central role in the Law of 22 Prairial, which sharply restricted defendants’ rights. Arrested on 9 Thermidor, he was executed with Robespierre.
Career timeline
- 1787Member, Provincial Assembly of Auvergne
- 1791Deputy for Puy-de-Dôme in the Legislative Assembly
- 1792Deputy for Puy-de-Dôme in the National Convention
- 1793Member of the Committee of Public Safety
- 1793Representative on mission to the Army of the Alps and Rhône-et-Loire; took Lyon
- 1793President of the National Convention
- 1794Rapporteur of the Law of 22 Prairial
- 1794Arrested on 9 Thermidor; guillotined on 28 July
Jacobin politician who argued for subsistence rights and revolutionary government
On 9 Thermidor, 27 July 1794, Convention deputies arrested him with about 90 others; he was executed without trial.
A lawyer and National Convention deputy during the French Revolution, Robespierre served on the Committee of Public Safety. His 1792 speech on subsistence placed access to necessities first while recognizing legitimate property and trade. His February 1794 report defended virtue and terror as principles of revolutionary government. This was a participant’s justification of repression; decisions made by the Convention and its committees cannot all be treated as his personal orders. He was executed after his defeat at Thermidor.
Career timeline
- 1789Elected deputy to the Estates-General for Artois
- 1780Graduated in law and was admitted to the Arras bar
- 1792Elected deputy to the National Convention
- 1793–1794Served on the Committee of Public Safety, a leading figure of the revolutionary government
Paris Commune prosecutor prominent in dechristianisation
As the Commune’s procurator he linked social policy to sans-culotte pressure, advanced the Terror and dechristianisation, opposed women’s political activity, and split with Robespierre before his 1794 execution.
As procurator of the Paris Commune, Chaumette was involved in urban policies on prices, relief, and public education as well as radical popular politics. He became a prominent promoter of dechristianisation in 1793 and was close to Hébert and Cordelier networks. He was arrested after the government’s purge of the Hébertists and executed in April 1794.
Career timeline
- 1790As a member of the Jacobin Club, he edited the radical Revolutions de Paris journal.
- 1792In August he became chief procurator of the Paris Commune and was delegated to inspect the prisons with power of arrest during the insurrection of 10 August.
- 1792Elected president of the Commune on 31 October, he defended the municipality before the National Convention and was re-elected on 2 December.
- 1793He helped lead the attack on the Girondins and in October acted as prosecutor at their trial alongside Hébert.
- 1793In September, amid the subsistence crisis, he led popular mobilisation and contributed to the establishment of the Terror.
- 1793He led the dechristianisation campaign, organising the Festival of Reason of 10 November.
- 1794Arrested on 13 March, after the Hébertists’ arrest on 4 March; convicted over the Luxembourg prison plot and guillotined on 13 April.
Enragé activist who championed section assemblies and direct democracy
Enragé who linked subsistence riots and section politics to the removal of the Girondins; a deputy in the 1792 National Convention.
A former postal employee and Paris section activist, Varlet joined the Enragés in pressing subsistence demands and direct democracy. He participated in the insurrection of 31 May–2 June 1793 that removed the Girondins. He later criticized the revolutionary government for suppressing popular sovereignty and was repeatedly arrested.
Career timeline
- 1789–1792In the Revolution's early years he wrote patriotic songs, campaigned by petition against the king's flight and for his deposition, and took part in popular mobilisation in the Paris sections.
- 1792After the Legislative Assembly suspended the king and called elections for a National Convention to write a new constitution, he was elected a deputy and argued for direct universal suffrage and the recall of elected officials.
- 1793He joined the Parisian poor's demands for price controls on 22 February, was arrested on 24 May and released three days later, then sat on the nine-member insurrectionary committee formed by section delegates on 29 May, which led the insurrection of 31 May to 2 June.
- 1793–1795Arrested again at the start of the Terror and released on 29 October 1793, he was arrested once more after the fall of Robespierre and spent almost a year in prison.
- after 1800After his release he settled at Pailly in the Yonne, married and had three children; from 1800 he supported Bonaparte and lived for a time in Nantes.
- 1830–1837He returned to Paris for several months in 1830 to take part in the July Revolution; in 1836 he left Nantes for Corbeil-Essonnes, where he drowned the following year.
