The "Angel Of Assassination"

[poliphilo]

           


This seems to be the only portrait of Charlotte Corday done from life.

At her trial she noticed that up in the gallery a young man was sketching her- and asked the favour of the court that in the short time that elapsed between trial and execution he should be allowed to come to her prison cell and finish his work. And so it transpired that she spent her last few hours having her portrait painted.

She took herself very seriously.

But then they all did. She and Marat both believed you could change the world by killing people. Victim and murderer- like two peas in a pod.

The portraitist Jean-Jacques Hauer is known for nothing else. He  was employed at the Theatre Francais, which presumably means he was a scene painter. He hasn't given us a great work of art but he has captured something. This is a real person, not the "angel of assassination" she became to a heroine worshipping posterity....

Comments

[paserbyp]

She look’s like a very smart person who tried to change history by killing…

Killing Hitler in 1933 or Putin in 2000 helps?

How about killing Trump will helps history to change path?

[poliphilo]

In 1914 an assassination toppled the first domino that led to WWI. It's always a risky strategy.

[paserbyp]

Good point and someone will use it to destroy empires.