Monday, June 28, 2010

The Murder of an Artist

Painter Rosalie Filleul.
Like most liberal, artistic members of French society, lovely, flirtatious Madame Filleul welcomed the Revolution when the Bastille fell in 1789 but she soon became disillusioned after the suppression of Christianity and then imprisonment of the royal family. She drew attention to herself when she wore mourning for Louis XVI on the anniversary of his execution in January 1794 and then again when she unwisely auctioned some old pieces of furniture from La Muette, which bore the royal insignia.

Rosalie was duly denounced to the Committee of Public Safety and put under surveillance by a certain Citoyen Blache. Arrest was inevitable and eventually she and her friend, Madame Chalgrin were both arrested, with execution following swiftly on the 24th June 1794 on the Place du Trône-Renversé.
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5 comments:

Julygirl said...

Few escaped, and many innocents were murdered during that short but bloody regime.

elena maria vidal said...

So much for the much vaunted liberty.

Enbrethiliel said...

+JMJ+

The Committee of Public Safety?! George Orwell couldn't have made that up!

And of course someone who mourns an "enemy of the state" is a threat to public safety. *rolls eyes* Just when I think I couldn't be more disgusted with the Revolution . . .

lara77 said...

THAT was justice?? I guess in the eyes of the republic's bloodthirsty leaders one was allowed "freedom" as long as you believed in the republic's propaganda. The French Revolution truly was a grand farce of monumental proportions. All one can do is pray for the many victims of those years of bloody horror in France.

Orchard Ville said...

Very sad... I think if I was in France during the Revolution and I was French, I would end up having the same fate, like this fine lady. May she rest in peace.