The Ninth of Thermidor, or the English Surprise, to Honest People of All Countries (Le Neuf Thermidor ou la surprise angloise, aux honnêtes gens to tous le pays)
fructidor l'an 3e, 1795
Medium
Hand-colored etching
Dimensions
sheet: 11 1/16 x 14 1/2 in. (28.1 x 36.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962
Accession Number
62.520.183
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the turbulent final days of the French Revolution Jean-Baptiste Louvion and-Eugène Poirier crafted this hand-colored etching in Fructidor of Year III (1795), a vivid satirical print now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Drawings and Prints department. Titled *The Ninth of Thermidor or the English Surprise, Honest People of All Countries it captures the political fervor around 9 Thermidor Year III (late August 1795), the Directory's fragile rule following the Thermidorian Reaction toppled Robespierre. The "English Surprise" likely alludes to British meddling or royalist plots, a commo...
About the Artist
Jean-Baptiste Louvion|Louis-Eugène Poirier (French|French) · 1740 |1793 –1804 |1818
French, 1740–1804|French, active 1793–1818