he returned to florence about 1794. in rome he entered with fiery vehemence into the projected italian republic under revolutionary french auspices, when joseph bonaparte arrived in the city in 1797, drawing jacobin sympathizers to him. in the jacobin riots of december 1797, during which brigadier-general mathurin-léonard duphot was killed, ceracchi was noted as a leader of the rioters; events led directly from duphot's death to the directoire's decision to occupy the city. french troops arrived on 10 february 1798 and on the 15th the republic of rome was proclaimed. in 1799 ceracchi moved to paris, where he sculpted the portrait bust of pope pius vi (residenzmuseum, munich; palazzo bianco, genoa). having sculpted a bust of napoleon bonaparte (museum at nantes), he became disillusioned after the "coup d'état" of 18 brumaire to the extent that he was embroiled in the paranoid and furious reaction of napoleon to the plot of the rue saint-nicaise, an attempt against napoleon's life in which a device dubbed the "machine infernal" was exploded, with loss of innocent life. ceracchi was arrested for his alleged participation in the "conspiration des poignards" and guillotined 30 january 1801, "going to the scaffold, it is said, in a triumphal chariot of his own design".