Focus on The Victors of the Bastille in Front of the Hôtel de Ville and explore the History.
Shortly after the accession of Louis-Philippe I, Delaroche, Cogniet, Schnetz and Drolling were commissioned to paint four large canvases for the Throne Room in the Hôtel de Ville to celebrate the heroes of the revolutions of July 1789 and July 1830. Delaroche was charged with depicting “the People returning victorious from the Bastille”. He began work in it in 1834, and Charles Séchan assisted him with drawing the architectural elements of the background. Purchased from the artist in 1839, the painting was never hung during the reign of Louis-Philippe. It was placed in external storerooms, and thus escaped the fire that destroyed the Hôtel de Ville in the semaine sanglante of 1871.While the original canvas is in the collection of the Petit Palais, the Musée d'Orsay also holds an 1858 albumen print photograph of the work by Robert Jefferson Bingham and the Louvre holds a sketch for the work by Delaroche.
July 1789 semaine sanglante Robert Jefferson Bingham Musée d'Orsay July 1830 Cogniet Petit Palais Louis-Philippe I Drolling Schnetz Louvre Hôtel de Ville Charles Séchan