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Lot Essay
The storming of the Bastille which took place on 14 July 1789 soon came to symbolize the French Revolution, the tyranny and oppression against which citizens of Paris had taken arms. Representations of it quickly proliferated.
Desrais has chosen to represent the moment following the storming when the governor of the prison, the marquis de Launay, is escorted outside the fortress by the grenadier Harné and the clockmaker Humbert followed by some of the attackers and some members of the Garde française who had joined the uprising.
The drawing would appear to be in preparation for a print, as the artist has reversed the layout of the Bastille and its surrounding area. The drawbridge gate seen at the left in the drawing, with its distinctive triangular pediment and wooden beams, actually stood to the right of the fortress. No print after this drawing is known to exist.
Desrais has chosen to represent the moment following the storming when the governor of the prison, the marquis de Launay, is escorted outside the fortress by the grenadier Harné and the clockmaker Humbert followed by some of the attackers and some members of the Garde française who had joined the uprising.
The drawing would appear to be in preparation for a print, as the artist has reversed the layout of the Bastille and its surrounding area. The drawbridge gate seen at the left in the drawing, with its distinctive triangular pediment and wooden beams, actually stood to the right of the fortress. No print after this drawing is known to exist.