Popular Culture
The Queen Exhausted
An image produced well after the Revolution shows a Queen, assaulted by the gaze of the people, controlled by the soldier, and tentative in her stance and appearance.
Hell Broke Loose, or, The Murder of Louis
In this English image, as the King’s head is about to fall into the executioner’s basket, bats out of Hell emerge, symbolizing the Revolution. At the same time, God’s favor seems to fall on Louis through a shaft of light coming from heaven.
Louis XVI, King of France, born 23 August 1754, beheaded 21 January 1793
Louis quickly became a matyr to the royalist cause, as this and other memorials indicate.
Louis Arrives in Hell
In classical mythology, the journey to Hell involved crossing the river Styx. Revolutionary cartoonists often invoked this image when describing the fate of their enemies. This is no exception. See the boat on the left with the dog, Cerberus, who was the guardian of the gates of the underworld.
I Am Called Cerberus but Am Also a Chameleon: Napoleon Being Sucked into Hell
Where once cartoonists focused on classical images of death to signal the doom of monarchs and aristocrats, they now used these same symbols to drag Napoleon into the netherworld.
A Popular English Broadside (1821)
Some in the popular classes saw in Napoleon an opponent of monarchs.
This source is a part of the The Napoleonic Experience teaching module.
Watch Yourself or You'll be a Product for Sale
The women in this image appear to be tempted to a life of prostitution. The female figure in the left foreground gestures toward the door but remains modestly attired. Once inside, the women are there for the pleasure of men and wear revealing or little clothing.
Game of the Great Men, Minot the Elder
Revolutionaries redesigned playing cards in order to eliminate references to royalty (kings, queens, jacks) and replace them with great men and abstract virtues.
Photographs from the Papal Visit of 1987
From June 8-14, 1987, Pope John Paul II made his third "pilgrimage" to his homeland (he had already visited in 1979 and 1983).
The Berlin Wall 1989
Crowds gather on the Wall, Berlin.