Flag of France
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| + | [[Image:Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Liberty Leading the People]]'' (detail) (1831) by [[Eugène Delacroix]]]] | ||
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| - | '''''Liberty Leading the People''''' (La Liberté guidant le peuple) is a painting by [[Eugène Delacroix]] commemorating the [[July Revolution]] of 1830, which toppled [[Charles X (France)|Charles X]]. A woman personifying [[Liberty]] leads the people forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the ''[[Flag of France|tricolore]]'' [[flag]] of the [[French Revolution]] in one hand and brandishing a [[bayonetted]] [[musket]] with the other. This is perhaps Delacroix's best-known painting, having carved its own niche in [[popular culture]]. | + | The '''[[national flag]] of France''' (known in [[French language|French]] as ''drapeau tricolore'', ''drapeau français'', and in military parlance, ''les couleurs'') is a [[tricolour]] featuring three vertical bands coloured royal blue (hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the '''French tricolour''' or simply the '''tricolour'''. |
| - | == History == | + | The royal government used many flags, the best known being a blue shield and yellow [[fleur-de-lis]] on a white background, or state flag. Early in the [[French Revolution]], the Paris militia, which played a prominent role in the [[storming of the Bastille]], wore a [[cockade]] of blue and red, the city's traditional colors. According to [[Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette]], white, the "ancient French colour", was added to militia cockade to create a tricolor, or national, cockade. This cockade became part of the uniform of the [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]], which succeeded the militia and was commanded by Lafayette. The colors and design of the cockade are the basis of the Tricolor flag, adopted in 1790. A modified design by [[Jacques-Louis David]] was adopted in 1794. A solid white flag was used during the [[Bourbon restoration]] in 1815-1830, but the tricolor has been used since. |
| - | By the time Delacroix painted ''Liberty Leading the People'', he was already the acknowledged leader of the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] school in French painting. Delacroix, who was born as the [[Age of Enlightenment]] was giving way to the ideas and style of romanticism, rejected the emphasis on precise drawing that characterized the [[academic art]] of his time, and instead gave a new prominence to freely brushed color. | + | |
| - | Delacroix painted his work in the autumn of 1830. In a letter to his brother dated 12 October, he wrote: "My bad mood is vanishing thanks to hard work. I’ve embarked on a modern subject—a [[barricade]]. And if I haven’t fought for my country at least I’ll paint for her." The painting was first exhibited at the official [[Salon of May 1831]]. | ||
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| - | == Symbolism == | ||
| - | Delacroix depicted Liberty, personified by [[Marianne]], symbol of the nation, as both an [[allegory|allegorical]] goddess-figure and a robust woman of the people, an approach that contemporary critics denounced as "ignoble". The mound of corpses acts as a kind of [[pedestal]] from which Liberty strides, barefoot and bare-breasted, out of the canvas and into the space of the viewer. The [[Phrygian cap]] she wears had come to symbolize liberty during the first [[French Revolution]], of 1789-94. The painting has been seen as a marker to the end of the Age of Enlightenment, as many scholars see the end of the [[French Revolution]] as the start of the romantic era. | ||
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| - | The fighters are from a mixture of social classes, ranging from the upper classes represented by the young man in a [[top hat]], to the revolutionary middle class or ([[bourgeoisie]]), as exemplified by the boy holding pistols (who may have been the inspiration for the character [[Gavroche]] in Victor Hugo's ''[[Les Misérables]]''). What they have in common is the fierceness and determination in their eyes. Aside from the flag held by Liberty, a second, minute [[Flag of France|''tricouleur'']] can be discerned in the distance flying from the towers of [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]]. | ||
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| - | The identity of the man in the top hat has been widely debated. The suggestion that it was a self-portrait by Delacroix has been discounted by modern art historians. In the late 19th century, it was suggested the model was the theatre director [[Etienne Arago]]; others have suggested the future curator of the Louvre, Frédéric Villot; but there is no firm consensus on this point. | ||
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| - | == Purchase and exhibition == | ||
| - | The French government bought the painting in 1831 for 3,000 [[French franc|francs]] with the intention of displaying it in the throne room of the [[Palais du Luxembourg]] as a reminder to the "citizen-king" [[Louis-Philippe of France|Louis-Philippe]] of the July Revolution, through which he had come to power. This plan did not come to fruition and the canvas was hung in the palace's museum gallery for a few months, before being taken down for its inflammatory political message. Delacroix was permitted to send the painting to his aunt Félicité for safekeeping. It was exhibited briefly in 1848 and then in the [[Salon (Paris)|Salon]] of 1855. In 1874, the painting entered the [[Louvre]]. | ||
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| - | == Legacy == | ||
| - | The painting inspired the [[Statue of Liberty]] in [[New York City]],{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} which was given to the United States as a gift from the French only 50 years after ''Liberty Leading the People'' had been painted. The statue, which holds a torch in its hand, takes a more stable, immovable stance than that of the woman in the painting. | ||
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| - | An engraved version of this painting, along with a depiction of Delacroix himself, was featured on the 100-franc note in the early 1990s. | ||
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| - | The painting is frequently reproduced and reinterpreted in popular culture, and has recently been featured on the front cover of [[Eric Hobsbawm]]'s ''[[The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848|Age of Revolution]]'', [[Fareed Zakaria]]'s ''[[The Future of Freedom|The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad]]'', ''[[The Economist]]'', and in the artwork for ''[[Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends]]'' by [[Coldplay]]. | ||
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| - | The painting has had an influence on [[European classical music|classical music]] as well; the American [[George Antheil]] titled his Symphony No. 6 ''After Delacroix'', and stated that the work was inspired by ''Liberty Leading the People''. | ||
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The national flag of France (known in French as drapeau tricolore, drapeau français, and in military parlance, les couleurs) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured royal blue (hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the French tricolour or simply the tricolour.
The royal government used many flags, the best known being a blue shield and yellow fleur-de-lis on a white background, or state flag. Early in the French Revolution, the Paris militia, which played a prominent role in the storming of the Bastille, wore a cockade of blue and red, the city's traditional colors. According to Lafayette, white, the "ancient French colour", was added to militia cockade to create a tricolor, or national, cockade. This cockade became part of the uniform of the National Guard, which succeeded the militia and was commanded by Lafayette. The colors and design of the cockade are the basis of the Tricolor flag, adopted in 1790. A modified design by Jacques-Louis David was adopted in 1794. A solid white flag was used during the Bourbon restoration in 1815-1830, but the tricolor has been used since.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Flag of France" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
