Equality perches precariously atop a mason’s level, wielding a sword inscribed with “Equality or Death” in her right hand while her left holds up a balance.  On the crossbar of the monumental level reads, “Proud ones, humble yourselves.”  Crushed beneath the level in the foreground are six bodies in contemporary dress.  The text below identifies three of the figures: “the Tyrant Robespierre, the Hypocrite Couthon, and the Insolent St. Just.” These men were major actors during the French Revolution, advocating the execution of Louis XVI and countless others deemed enemies of the Republic.  The tables turned on the Terror when Robespierre and his colleagues were themselves arrested and guillotined. 

Yet the iconography and intent of French Revolutionary images remained essentially the same, as can be seen in the watercolor above.  Both examples were used to uphold the moralistic image of the new Republic and its leaders above the gruesome reality of revolution.  

Lindsay Twa