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American Association for Public Opinion Research

Art as National Propaganda in the French Revolution


Author(s): David L. Dowd
Source: The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Autumn, 1951), pp. 532-546
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for Public
Opinion Research
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2746076
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Art as National Propaganda
in the French Revolution
BY DAVID L. DOWD

The leaders of the French Revolution con- and sculpture were extensiv
sciously employed all forms of art to mobilize greatest contribution of the
public sentiment in favor of the new France ers to the art of propaganda
and French nationalism. In the absence of mass opment of the pageant o
media, artists were able to reach and influence propagandists can still lea
a large number of the population who were not The author is Assistant P
otherwise accessible to propaganda. Painting at the University of Florid

IT is now generally recognized that official propaganda on


had its inception during the French Revolution.l In th
first time, the general public was systematically and u
bombarded by a modern press, and numerous organized p
were formed to attain specific ends through the manipul
opinion. During this dynamic period various propagand
use today were developed, and in some cases perfected
generally recognized. Successive revolutionary governmen
sciously and continuously, with all the means at their dis
public opinion and to direct it into channels favorable to
and interests.
Nevertheless, no systematic discussion of the vario
revolutionary propaganda during the Revolution has
During the last few years, however, the publication of hi
graphs and articles on various special aspects such as revolu
festivals, and the theater, may represent a trend.3 Certai
'This article is a revision of a paper read at the annual meeting of the A
Association at Chicago on December 29, 1950. Much of the research upon wh
made possible by a grant from the American Philosophical Society.
2 Dowd, David L., Pageant-Master of the Republic: Jacques-Louis David and
lution (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1948), deals with the propaganda activities of the l
period but there is no volume comparable to Robert B. Holtman, Napoleonic
Rouge, 1950) which covers all facets of the subject for the succeeding period.
Rogers, Cornwell B., The Spirit of Revolution in 1789: A study of public o
in political songs and other popular literature at the beginning of the French
ton, 1949); Dowd, op. cit.; Beatrice F. Hyslop, "The Theater during a Crisis: T
during the Reign of Terror," Journal of Modern History, XVII (December, I

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ART AS NATIONAL PROPAGANDA 533

devoted to "National Propaganda in the French Revolution


American Historical Association at its annual meeting in
1950 indicates a growing interest in this important subjec
among historians. When a sufficient number of specialized stu
been completed and the results made available in published for
be possible to write a complete, well-rounded account of Frenc
lutionary propaganda. Such a work would illuminate the
many significant aspects of present day political propaganda a
One of the most pregnant aspects of this significant probl
role of artists and artistic media in the propaganda of the Rev
Virtually untouched until now, this topic should prove to be a
ing one for historians, sociologists, political scientists, art histo
public opinion specialists. An account of the activities of the m
portant artist of the Revolutionary decade has been publish
overall survey of the other significant aspects of art as propa
ing the French Revolution must still be made. It is the purpos
article to contribute to the inauguration of such a synthesis b
attention to some of the more important aspects of the probl
basis of historical research.
The artistic media considered here will be limited to painti
graving, sculpture, and the fetes nationales-those vast, sp
demonstrations in which the arts named, plus architecture, m
etry, drama, the dance, oratory and fireworks were all effect
bined. Rather than attempting to cover the whole decade of th
lution, attention will be confined to the early years, partic
period between the outbreak of war and the fall of Robespierr
term "national propaganda" is meant those organized and co
contrived movements which aimed at promoting the official c
patrie during the period selected. The meaning of that mu
word "nationalism" has been amplified and clarified by num
cellent studies which have appeared during the last few dec
clear that national sentiment assumed variant forms during th
lution and that "nationalism," just as that other chameleon-
"liberalism," has changed many of its aspects in the one hundr
odd years since the Revolution. Nevertheless, for purposes of d
'E.g.: C. J. H. Hayes, Essays on Nationalism (New York, 1926), The Historical
Modern Nationalism (New York, I931); Hans Kohn, The Idea of Nationalism: A
origins and background (New York, 1945).

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534 PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY, FALL I95I

it may be said that "nationalism" is here used in the sense of a mental


condition prevalent among a group of people who believe in their com-
mon interests or characteristics, who award supreme loyalty to a nation-
state and who regard their own nationality as superior and endowed
with a special mission. Needless to say, the fine arts of the period in
question had other functions beside propaganda and the revolutionary
spirit had other aspects in addition to nationalism.

THE FINE ARTS AS A MEDIUM FOR REACHING THE MASSES

When the destruction of the ancien regime dissolved many


traditional bonds uniting king and subjects, the revolutionari
were faced with the immensely difficult problem of re-estab
psychological unity of France, presumably on some new
growing feeling of national patriotism, then in a relatively e
of development, seemed to offer a means of consolidating a n
tive loyalty. In order to inculcate nationalism, along with oth
of the revolutionary spirit, of course, various propaganda
were perfected and effectively employed. Clubs, newspapers,
plays, pamphlets, festivals, costume, interior decoration, dance
songs, pictures, sculptures, monuments and so forth were all
this purpose.
As we might expect, however, auditory and visual pr
techniques were found to be particularly successful in appeali
tively to the masses. The Frenchman in the street as compare
educated bourgeois or aristocrat was likely to be receptive bu
generally he was too poor to afford the relatively expensive c
berships, the newspapers, books and brochures, and the theat
cert tickets. As in Paris today art exhibitions, public monum
ers, prints exposed for sale, and of course public concerts
singers exerted a magical attraction for large numbers of Fre
Thus the political leaders emphasized forms of propaganda wh
likely to appeal to and be effective with the masses. Almost i
therefore, art and music became particularly significant and
propaganda techniques during the Revolution.
The employment of the fine arts for the purpose of in
public opinion in favor of the national government did not b
the Revolution of 1789. Since at least the reign of Louis XIV,

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ART AS NATIONAL PROPAGANDA 535

bon monarchy had consciously used them as a means of arousi


ings favorable to the regime. By the end of the eighteenth ce
painting of history, for example, was regarded as "an emanati
throne."5 In I776, fat old Count Angiviller, who served as
Minister of Fine Arts to Louis XVI, wrote that the governmen
encourage art in order "to revive the virtues and patriotic sen
The philosophes such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot and
also emphasized in their writings the political and social signif
the arts for the state as well as for the individual. At the beg
the Revolution, therefore, the idea that art could and should b
mould and influence public opinion was already widely acce
From the practical point of view it was probably the leader
Revolution who did more to promote the arts as a means of st
national sentiment than any other single political group until
tieth century. Consciously, and on a large scale, the deputies of
lutionary assemblies made the use of art which appealed to the
of the population an important feature of their policy. Mirabe
ton, Robespierre, and scores of lesser figures advocated artisti
from time to time in order (as Danton put it) "to inspire t
liberty and of the fatherland."8 Illustrative examples and telli
tions could be multiplied: the point is simply that groups of a
hues-monarchists and republicans, Girondins and Montagn
tonists and Robespierreists-saw clearly the desirability of e
artists as national propagandists.

THE ARTISTS AS REVOLUTIONISTS

Such being the case, just how was the official policy receiv
artists? As a matter of fact the initiative frequently came fr
ists themselves and there is no evidence that they though
prostituting their talents by using them for political propag
first place, the virtual disappearance of their usual marke
understandable desire for public commissions to take up the
too, in the eighteenth century it was taken for granted that
should be a patron of the arts on the same munificent sc
6Journal de Paris, No. 89 (March 30, 1777), p. 2.
6Letter to M. Pierre, March 14, I776: F. Engerand, ed., Inventaire des tableaux
achetes par la Direction des Bdtiments du Roi (Paris, I9OI), p. xxix.
Dowd, op. cit., pp. 8I-83.
8National Convention, November 26, 1793: Moniteur, no. 68 (8 Frimaire, an

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536 PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY, FALL I95I

been under the monarchy. Moreover-and this seems to have been of


the highest significance-the majority of the artists were manifestly sin-
cere in their warm loyalty to the nation and in their evident desire to
engage in patriotic propaganda for ideological reasons. With the excep-
tion of a few of the more aristocratic brethren of the Royal Academy
of Painting and Sculpture they appear to have been genuine and en-
thusiastic supporters of the new regime.
True, a few artists did emigrate to foreign parts-Marie Antoi-
nette's friend and portrayer, Madame Vigee-Lebrun, for instance.9 Sev-
eral others were arrested as suspects: Hubert Robert, the well-known
painter of romantic ruins, was kept in protective custody for a time.10
Nevertheless, all the real artists who were actually tried by the Revolu-
tionary Tribunal were acquitted or given light sentences."1 Of course the
term "artist" is here used in the sense of a professional practitioner of
the fine arts as contrasted with an "artisan" or craftsman. The single
occasion on which artists were sent to the guillotine occurred when a
dozen of them were outlawed en masse as Robespierreists and hurried
to the scaffold without trial after the Ninth of Thermidor.12 As a group
then they were apparently regarded as rather advanced in their revolu-
tionary views and, it might be added, as more intense than most in their
patriotic fervor.
This common impression seemed to be confirmed by the fact that
so many of the younger artists volunteered for military service and were
elected or appointed to various important legislative and administrative
positions during the Revolution. For example, no less than four artists
sat on the benches of the National Convention,13 and during the Reign
'Marie-Anne Elisabeth Vigee Lebrun (1755-1842) later claimed that she had not really emi-
grated but had merely been traveling for professional reasons. On the strength of a petition
signed by her fellow artists her name was removed from the list of e'migre's and she was allowed
to return to France unpunished. Bibliotheque de l'Institut d'art et d'archeologie de l'Universite
de Paris, MSS Doucet, Carton 52, dossier I.
10 Hubert Robert (1733-I808), known as "Robert des Ruines," was incarcerated in the Prison
of Saint Pelagie. From contemporary descriptions we learn that he was comfortably lodged and
was able to run a flourishing and lucrative china painting business on the side! See C. Gabillot,
Hubert Robert et son temps (Paris, 1898), pp. 182-99; Edmond Pilon, "Hubert Robert sous la
Terreur," in his Dansons la Carmagnole (3rd ed., Paris, 1939), pp. 152-60.
' Archives Nationales (Paris) [hereafter cited A.N.] Inventaire du Serie W (Papiers du Tribu-
nal Revolutionnaire).
'A.N., W 434, dossier 975, piece 9; dossier 976, piece 2; dossier 977, piece 5; dossier 978,
pi&ce 5.
'8Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), Gabriel Bouquier (1739-1810), Denis-Guillaume Bourgin
(175I-I8Io) and Antoine-Francois Sergent-Marceau (1851-1847).

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ART AS NATIONAL PROPAGANDA 537

of Terror the Mayor of Paris was a sculptor.l4 The perso


Paris Commune, of the surveillance committees, of the Re
Tribunal and especially of the various political police agencie
painters, engravers, and sculptors. As is well known the p
David was a member of the Comite de surete generale. He
for a time as president15 of this security police body which
pared in certain respects to the Cheka of the Russian Revolu
more than one set of conclusions probably could be drawn f
facts, it is fairly evident that most artists were happy to pla
ents at the disposal of the fatherland.
Their spokesman, Louis David, expressed it this way:
Each of us is accountable to the fatherland [la patrie
talents which he has received from nature .... The tr
ought to seize avidly upon every means of enlightening h
citizens and of constantly presenting to their eyes the sub
of heroism and of virtue.16
The artist [he said on another occasion] ought to co
powerfully to public instruction ... by penetrating the
making a profound impression on the mind.... Thus...
of heroism and civic virtue presented to the regard of th
will electrify its soul and will cause to germinate in it all
sions of glory and devotion to the welfare of the fath
patrie].
THE OATH OF THE TENNIS COURT

One of the earliest and certainly one of the best know


of this philosophy was the same painter's celebrated Oath
Court. At one time or another everyone has seen reprodu
commemorative picture. This work had its inception on t
versary of that historic event when, at a mass meeting, D
paint the patriotic scene in the Jeu de Paume. Shortly th
Jacobin Club decided to sponsor the project. When c
"Jean-Baptiste Edmond Lescot-Fleuriot. (1751-1794).
I'Decree of Committee of General Security of i8 Nivose, Year II [Janua
AF II* 294, folio 31.
16Discours prononce a la Convention nationale, le 29 mars 1793 . . . en off
sa composition representant Michel Lepelletier au lit de mort [Paris, 1793],
17National Convention, November 15, 1793: Journal de l'instruction p
[n.d.], pp. 232-37.

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538 PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY, FALL I95I

painting was to be engraved and reproductions of it were to be widely


distributed for propaganda purposes. The original was to be presented to
the National Assembly for the inspiration and edification of the legis-
lators. The Assembly, at the suggestion of Mirabeau, sanctioned a public
subscription to cover the costs of production. Although the artist ex-
pended a great amount of time and energy on his enormous canvas (it
measured 26 feet high by 35 feet long) it was never completed.l8 Never-
theless, this painting's patriotic theme not only gave its author a brevet
de civisme, but it helped to make it possible for David to obtain govern-
ment subsidies and artistic freedom for his fellow craftsmen. More im-
portant from the propaganda point of view, it left an indelible imprint
upon public opinion.
The Salon of I79I, at which the preliminary design for the Oath of
the Tennis Court was shown, included numerous other paintings of
revolutionary and patriotic scenes which exerted a powerful impact
upon the national spirit. Similarly, the subsequent Salons of I793 and
later years, still under governmental sponsorship but freed from control
by the Academy, exhibited an even greater number of propaganda pic-
tures.l9 Moreover, special competitions were launched from time to
time by the state for the purpose of awarding commissions for topical
paintings to be used in the campaign to mobilize public opinion in be-
half of the new regime.20 Scenes of the Revolution vied with neo-classic
allegories, as representational and symbolic art forms alike attempted to
embody and to inculcate the "patriotic" spirit. The accent was not only
upon the civic virtues but above all upon single-minded devotion to
la patrie.
SUBJECTS FOR THE PAINTER

As the Revolution advanced, this devotion was more and more fre-
quently coupled with the idea of death. Not only must the enemies of
the fatherland be liquidated, but good patriots must be ready if neces-
sary to die in the defense of the Republic. This preoccupation with vio-
'8Dowd, op. cit., pp. 36-41.
19 Collection des livrets des anciennes expositions depuis 1673 jusqu'en I800, ed. Jules M. J.
Guiffrey, 42 vols. (Paris, I869-72), vols. 36-39, passim.
0 E.g.: A.N., AF II 66, plaq. 489, piece 0o; Proces-verbal de la Convention Nationale imprime
par son ordre, 72 vols. (Paris, I792-95), L, 18I-83 [hereafter cited P.V. Conv.]; Recueil des
actes du Comite de salut public, ed. F. A. Aulard, 27 vols. (Paris, I889-I933), XIII, 25; Abbe
Henri Gregoire, Rapport sur les encouragements . . . seance du I7 vendemiaire l'an III [Paris,
I794], P. I9.

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ART AS NATIONAL PROPAGANDA 539

lent death was shown in the countless graphic representa


cruel and untimely ends of Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, Mar
Baille, Joseph Barra, Viala, Chalier, and other martyred her
Revolution. Usually these victims were depicted either in
and realistic poses, or else in idealistic or symbolistic fashion
est painters of the period such as Prud'hon and David were a
bine realism and idealism in an artistic synthesis of imm
Only the best known example will be mentioned: David's Ass
of Marat.21 This picture shows a scene of violent death in a
gaping wound, a blood stained knife, and the ghastly pall
mutilated flesh. But the macabre tableau is transformed b
nical canons of classic art into an immortal masterpiece. In t
such a master, brutal realism of subject matter was transmu
calm repose of idealized beauty by means of the skillful man
plastic form. At the same time these icons of the new faith
clear message of terrific emotional power: "fight or die
killed!" The members of the Government were probably n
immune from the influence of their own propaganda. With
sination of Marat and its companion piece the Death of Le
Saint-Fargeau22 literally staring at them from the walls of th
place (these paintings were hung on each side of the speak
is not too difficult to understand the mood of those members
vention who dealt so ruthlessly with their enemies. Each cou
himself dying under the assassin's knife-or the guillotine-if
with which he had affiliated himself should falter or fail in t
tionary struggle for survival.
It is perhaps significant to note that battle scenes were no
common during this period as they were to become under the
the Consulate, and the Empire. Before the advent of Bonapar
element appears to have been more important than the milit
cult of la patrie. It is also rather interesting that many prop
3 The original is in the Musee royal des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium.
2 After the Restoration the original by David was hidden by Le Peletier's daugh
in the Chateau of Saint Fargeau (Yonne) and repeated searches have failed to r
ever, it can be judged from the drawing reproduced in Dowd, op. cit., plate XIII
descriptions by E. J. Delecluze, Journal .. . 1824-1828, ed. R. Baschet (Pari
Dey, "Histoire de Saint Fargeau," Bulletin de la Socilte de l'Yonne, XII (18
Coupin, "Notice necrologique sur Jacques-Louis David" in Revue Encyclop
(April, 1827), 46; A. Lenoir, "David: Souvenirs historiques" in Journal de l'Inst
III (August, 1835), 6.

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54o PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY, FALL I95I

vases did not depict contemporary subjects at all but rather represented
dramatic incidents from ancient history or allegories from classical
mythology. In any case the purpose of the picture was usually clear
enough: namely, the inculcation of loyalty to the Nation and to the
principles upon which it was established.
Now it was all very well to finance art exhibitions and to commis-
sion paintings for public buildings, but how was the populace who did
not frequent the Louvre and the Tuileries to be reached? Moreover,
was there no way in which the most effective propaganda canvases could
be reproduced on a mass scale and widely distributed for maximum in-
fluence? In the eighteenth century the obvious answer to this question
was to use the relatively popular medium of engraving. As a matter of
fact almost all the important propaganda paintings of the day were re-
produced from engraved plates and made available to the public in large
numbers of copies.23 While private enterprise filled the portfolios of the
print sellers with patriotic engravings the government also subsidized
similar reproductions of works of art for the avowed purpose of influ-
encing public opinion. These popular prints were offered for sale in
great profusion in the print shops of Paris and open air stands along
the Seine. They became the typical decorative motif of the public offices
and committee chambers, the restaurants and cafes, the club rooms and
social halls and the parlors of private homes. Thus they did their daily
bit to reinforce national ideals and emotions.
In similar fashion, these popular engravings were employed to di-
rect vitriolic blasts of ridicule against the enemies of the fatherland. The
revolutionary leaders turned to the use of cartoons and caricatures which
played such an interesting part in politics elsewhere. For instance Eng-
lish productions in this genre by James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson,
and others are familiar. South of the Channel the Committee of Public
Safety ordered thousands of similar caricatures in black and white as
well as in colors from the pencils and burins of French artists.24 These
productions have to be seen to be appreciated-Latin humor is on the
earthy side. However, in revolutionary Paris as in Georgian London
they told their story cleverly and effectively with forthrightness and
2E.g.: P. V. Conv., VIII, 346; XXV, 221-22; XXVIII, I48; Proces-verbaux de la Commission
temporaire des arts, ed. L. Tuetey, 2 vols. (Paris, 1912-18), II, II3.
4 A.N., AF II 66, plaquette 489, for example, contains a whole series of official documents and
caricatures concerned, to the number of 66 pieces.

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ART AS NATIONAL PROPAGANDA 54I

more than a touch of crude obscenity. These caricatures appear


been among the most popular and successful, although not nec
the most tasteful and artistic, examples of national propag
various collections of the Departement des Estampes of the Bib
Nationale, the Louvre, and the Musee Carnavalet at Paris and th
ish Museum, to mention only a few repositories, together
papers of the Committee of Public Instruction and the Com
Public Safety in the Archives Nationales offer a wealth of i
material on the popular prints of the Revolution and the p
uses made of them. The evidence clearly shows that the revolu
varied their propaganda techniques to suit the tastes of the va
cial classes and that they used appropriate media to appeal to d
groups.

THEMES FOR THE SCULPTOR

The skill of the sculptor was also enrolled in the nati


ganda campaign. Monuments commemorating military victo
and statues of national heroes, symbolic figures representin
virtues, permanent replicas of various temporary statue
adorned the national festivals-all these were included in the various
propaganda projects of the revolutionary government. A conscious ef-
fort was made to replace the statues of former kings of France with
more suitable symbols which would still stimulate patriotic emotions.
A marble statue of the revolutionary martyr Le Peletier de Saint-Far-
geau, for example, was planned for the site of the great bronze effigy of
Louis XIV in the Place Vendome (where today the figure of Napoleon
flaunts itself against the sky in a Roman toga atop a pastiche of Trajan's
column).25 Similarly, the famous equestrian monument to Henry IV,
demolished by the mob on August ioth, was to be replaced on the Pont
Neuf by a colossal statue symbolizing the French People. The latter was
to have been a fifty-foot bronze version of the Farnese Hercules leaning
on a massive club and balancing figures of Liberty and Equality in one
hand.26
Paradoxically it was precisely these vast projects of massive stone
and eternal bronze which were from the physical point of view the most
2 Decree of the National Convention, January 25, I793: P. V. Cony., V, 403; Bulletin des
Amis de la Verite, no. 27 (January 26), p. I.
6 Decree of the National Convention, I7 Brumaire, Year II [November 7, I793]: Journal des
debats et des decrets, no. 415 [n.d.], p. 243.

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542 PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY, FALL I95I

ephemeral of all the types of artistic propaganda. Art competitions for


the best designs for these various proposals were held and often the
awards were actually made to successful artists. Nevertheless, there were,
in addition to the enormous financial cost, insurmountable war-time
shortages of transport and of that critical war material, bronze. Al-
though David had said of his popular Hercules that "victory will furnish
the bronze,"27 captured cannon had to be turned against the enemy in-
stead of being recast as monuments personifying la patrie.
As in the case of painting the subject matter of revolutionary sculp-
ture was generally not battle scenes or successful generals, unless of
course the latter (as in the case of Dampierre) were already dead. The
revolutionists evidently acted on the theory that glorification of a de-
ceased hero could help in strengthening the regime, while honors ren-
dered to a living man could be a grave threat to the security of the state.
The fear of a dictator flitted like a wraith through the scenes of the
Revolution. While unsuccessful generals were quickly sent to the guillo-
tine anyone suspected of dictatorial designs was decapitated with even
greater alacrity. Perhaps one reason for the ease with which Robespierre
was liquidated by his opponents was the suspicion that he aspired to
one man rule.
ALL IN ONE-THE FESTIVAL

The most important and effective of all the artistic m


for revolutionary propaganda was the festival or page
Revolution this technique reached the highest developme
of social control that it was to attain until our own tim
ists of the period, including David, were employed to co
and sculpture with the emotional appeal of colorful page
monial, parades and music, slogans and symbols, poet
together with official processions, theatrical programs a
displays. These artists composed immense living frescoes
lution which depicted the contemporary ideology and
essential aims of the new regime. For the illiterate mass
vivid symbolism of the processions provided magnificen
of the principles of the Revolution. The most origina
festivals was the mass participation: the people themselv
rRapport fait a la Convention nationale .. 27 brumaire, an 1 ('7 Nov
1793], p. 8.

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ART AS NATIONAL PROPAGANDA 543

participants as well as interested spectators. Flattered by the


importance thus engendered, the masses tended to identify t
ests with those of the new national state. Among the new coll
tudes created and the potential loyalties expressed and r
through mass participation in the festivals were those we no
in the term "nationalism."
The festivals themselves can be divided into three groups
fetes of Jacobin heroes, religious fetes such as the Fete of t
Being, and national fetes in celebration of republican victori
of this last type of demonstration was the victory festival o
30, I793. The occasion for the latter was the recapture of Tou
the royalist rebels and their English allies. When the news o
tary success reached Paris the Convention decreed that a cele
honor of the victory at Toulon should be celebrated in all par
as a "triumph of the Mountain Party."28 Next day, December
who was by now functioning regularly as Pageant-Master
public, presented a plan for a national festival in honor of al
cesses of the Republic and of all the fourteen armies.29 This
cant point. It was at Toulon that Bonaparte first distinguish
Yet the place of honor in the celebration was given not to th
generals, but to the wounded veterans and the ashes of those
action, to the civilian officials, and to the workers.
The Parisian celebration took place on December 30.3
o'clock that morning the clear cold air was shattered by a sa
lery and the program commenced. First came the armed
the forty-eight sections of Paris and of the fourteen armies
public. Then the triumphal cars full of wounded rolled by
with captured battle flags and escorted by young girls dress
After these followed the deputations of the popular societies
parti-colored banners, the members of the National Conv
body, and various other civil officials. A military escort bro
rear. Statues of Liberty, bonnets rouges, the national fasces, t
ners, a ship representing the Navy, and other symbols figur
8 4 Nivose, an II [December 24, 1793]: P. V. Conv., XXVIII, 84-85; Collection
decrets rendus . . . [mai I789-nivose an VIII], ed. F. J. Baudouin, 79 vols. (
XXXVIII, 36.
P9 . V. Conv., XXVIII, ioo-oi; David, Rapport fait .. . en memoire des victo
franfaises et notamment 2 l'occasion de la prise de Toulon [Paris, I7931.
8 Sources for descriptions of the fete are listed in Dowd, op. cit., p. II7n.

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544 PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY, FALL i951
nently in the procession. The streets of Paris along the line of march
reverberated to the rolling thunder of massed drums and the blare of
brass bands, but the sonorous strains of triumphal hymns dominated the
ceremonies. Leaving the Tuileries Gardens the cortege made its way
along the quays, crossed the Seine, marched to the Hotel des Invalides,
and then proceeded to the Champ de Mars where a banquet was given
for the wounded veterans.
In the comments of the press attention was called to the marked
contrast to the triumphal processions of the old order.31 Civilians were
given equal prominence with the military in this republican victory
ceremony. Honor was paid not to distinguished officers such as Bona-
parte, but to the common soldiers and to the humble sans culottes. The
newspapers of the day agreed with the Journal de Perlet and the Revo-
lutions de Paris which claimed that the demonstration was "a really
magnificent spectacle" and "created a great sensation."32 According to
witnesses the enormous crowds which attended the affair were in high
spirits and wildly demonstrated their gratitude to the Convention, their
enthusiasm for the soldiers and their hatred of the enemy. These ecstatic
press accounts are corroborated by the reports of the secret agents of the
Ministry of the Interior. According to journalists and police observers
alike "patriotic enthusiasm was the order of the day" and the masses
were profoundly moved by the sight of the wounded veterans.33
Thus the glorification of armed might for its own sake was as
noticeably lacking at this victory celebration as it was absent from
other types of revolutionary art. Military leaders who failed to win
battles were sometimes executed, but even the most successful ones re-
ceived no Roman triumphs nor artistic deification. A military dictator
did not succeed in taking over control of France until the end of the
revolutionary decade-and then only after seven years of uninterrupted
foreign war.
Another obvious feature of this and other festivals of the time was
its purely secular character. Under the old regime similar celebrations
had not only featured officers over enlisted men and the military over
the civilians, but even as late as July 14, I79o, had been accompanied by
"E.g.: Mercure universel, XXXV, no. I025 (December 31, I793), p. I65 and Feuille vil-
lageoise, IV, pt. 7, no. 15 (January 9, I794), p. 356.
J82ournal de Perlet, no. 465 (December 31, 1793), p. 246; Revolutions de Paris, no. 220 (I4
Nivose), p. 377.
88Pierre Caron, ed., Paris pendant la Terreur (Paris, I910), I, 79-94, passim.

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ART AS NATIONAL PROPAGANDA 545

orthodox religious services. According to the nineteenth c


historian, Alphonse Aulard, the first lay patriotic festiva
that it was unaccompanied by either mass or Te Deum
August IO, I793.34 Today a simple examination of the cont
scriptions of the fetes in honor of Voltaire (July ii, i791)
teauvieux Regiment (April 15, I792), and of Simonneau
to say nothing of the apotheoses of the Jacobin martyrs
zowski and Marat early in I793, proves beyond a doubt th
tinguished scholar though he was in his day, was mist
exception, not a single one of the festivals named was in
ciated with a mass or a Te Deum.35 The pantheonization
April, I791, was probably the first but the victory cele
cember, I793, was certainly not the last of the patriotic c
Like the others it played an important role in popularizin
la patrie.
PROPAGANDA FOR A NEW NATION

Revolutionary nationalism, then, assumed many of the asp


new religion including ceremonials, symbols, sacred texts,
martyrs. True, it was a secular religion which deified the peop
elected representatives and above all the nation. According to t
dispensation the Republic had no place for ambitious militarist
be dictators or politically minded churchmen. Nevertheless, ar
tionally a powerful tool in the hands of orthodox religious lea
included among the more important media for the propagation
new cult.
Besides mobilizing all national resources for the purpose of beating
off the attacks of their enemies, the revolutionists had to restore the
psychological unity of France if the achievements of the Revolution
were to be preserved. The institution of the Monarchy and its twin
pillars, the old royal army and the Roman Catholic Church, had col-
lapsed under the impact of the events of the revolutionary crisis. Their
shattered fragments, still aligned with the reactionary forces which
strove to destroy the infant Republic, had to be neutralized by propa-
ganda as well as combated by force. A national government controlled
by civilians, a new revolutionary army strictly subordinated to that gov-
8Le Christianisme et la revolution francaise (Paris, 1925), pp. I02-03.
5 See Dowd, op. cit., pp. 48-54, 59-66, 69-74, 99-100oo, 103-04, 105-o06, 115.

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546 PUBLIC OPINION QUARTERLY, FALL I951
ernment, and a new secular cult of patriotism and civic virtue were
established. The aim of the revolutionists was to create a new nation, a
civil and secular Republic of Virtue characterized by liberty, equality,
and fraternity, free of military and clerical domination, and based on
the rising spirit of nationalism. It is this objective, then, which explains
the lack of militarism and the secularism or anti-clericalism which were
such marked features of the artistic propaganda of the period.
Even this brief examination of the paintings, engravings, sculpture,
and festivals of the revolutionary era together with the relevant docu-
ments seems conclusive enough: The art forms named were consciously
and successfully used by the various governments of the Revolution for
the avowed purpose of stimulating the nascent spirit of nationalism.
The numerous speeches and decrees as well as the relatively large sums
of money used to subsidize artistic propaganda indicated the high de-
gree of importance attributed to such projects by the political leaders of
the period. A more comprehensive and exhaustive examination of the
evidence may be necessary for a final judgment of the relative effective-
ness of the various artistic media as moulders of public opinion. From
the general circumstances and from the representative examples and
sources studied here, however, it is evident that all the fine arts, particu-
larly the national festivals, were of very definite value in encouraging
devotion to the new national state created by the French Revolution.

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