The Storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
image: 36.9 × 58.1 cm · sheet: 41.6 × 58.5 cm
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Severance and Greta Millikin Trust
Accession Number
2015.21
Tags
male
About this artwork
Overtaking the Bastille, a fortress prison and symbol of the monarchy’s power, was a turning point in the French Revolution (1789–99). This etching of the successful rebellion is the only print made by the history painter Charles Thévenin. Typically, artists recorded historical events in paintings that printmakers then engraved with tools called burins, but in this case Thévenin drew his composition directly on the prepared etching plate, capturing a sense of the excitement he claimed to have wi...