French democrats surprizing the royal runaways

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James Gillray
1756-1815
French democrats surprizing the royal runaways
hand colored etching
image: 243 x 345 mm; plate: 248 x 353 mm; sheet: 260 x 363 mm
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Peel 2728
Published: 
[London] : Pubd. June 27, 1791, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street, [1791]
Provenance: 
Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.
Notes: 

Printmaker from BM Satires.

Summary: 

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are seated on chairs at Varennes while an armed and ferocious mob invades the room through an open door (left); the approach of an angry crowd is suggested by a sea of heads, above which weapons are raised. The King sits full face, the Queen beside him in profile to the left and on the extreme right. One ruffian presents a blunderbuss at the Queen, another, yelling, threatens the King with a pistol and sabre. A soldier (left) advances with his musket cocked towards the little Dauphin, who has fallen on his back at the King's feet, having apparently been pushed over by the soldier's bayonet. A man wearing only a bonnet rouge and a shirt advances with a dagger in each hand; behind him is a man with a raised hammer in one hand, a broom in the other.

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