The Death of Young Bara
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Joseph Bara, also written Barra (30 July 1779 Fontainebleau – 7 December 1793 Jallais) is said to have been a young French republican soldier at the time of the Revolution. He was hailed as a hero by the leaders of the movement. Bara would have voluntarily enrolled in the revolutionary troops fighting the royalist insurrection in the Vendée. Having been trapped by the enemy and being ordered to cry "Vive le Roi" ("Long live the King") to save his own life, he would have preferred instead to die crying "Vive la République" ("Long live the Republic"). The boy's death was seized as a propaganda opportunity by Robespierre, who praised him at the Convention's tribune saying that "only the French have thirteen-year-old heroes" and had his remains transferred to the Panthéon.
This version of the history of Joseph Bara is disputed and considered as a "republican myth" by some/many historians.
Honours
- A painting by Jacques-Louis David depicts the dying Bara.
- A painting (La Mort de Bara) by Jean Joseph Weerts also depicts Bara's death.
- A Paris street is named after him.
- Bara is alluded to in the Chant du départ
- A ship of the line was named Barra in his honour
