The Barricade
1871
Medium
Lithograph in black, with scraping, on ivory chine laid down on ivory wove paper (chine collé)
Dimensions
Image: 46.8 × 33.7 cm (18 7/16 × 13 5/16 in.); Primary support: 47 × 33.7 cm (18 9/16 × 13 5/16 in.); Secondary support: 60.4 × 46 cm (23 13/16 × 18 1/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
6163
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Like Civil War (1871/73), this print is set during the street fighting of the Paris Commune. The troops here mirror the firing squad in Édouard Manet’s The Execution of Maximilian (1868–69), a series of paintings that, due to their political intonations, were not exhibited in Paris under Napoleon III. Here though, instead of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico—a Hapsburg installed by Napoleon III and executed at the hands of a resurgent Mexican army—Manet depicted insurgent Parisian Communards executed...