Saturday 16 May 2015

Important tables 2 - table on which Robespierre lay on 9th-10th Thermidor



This sad relic, now on display in the hôtel de Soubise (Archives Nationales), is said to be the table on which Robespierre lay in agony in the antechamber of the Committee of Public Safety through the night of 9th-10th Thermidor.  It was originally made in 1744 for the cabinet de travail du roi in the château de Choisy, then relegated to the royal garde-meuble in 1787. The royal insignias have been replaced by Phrygian bonnets.
See:
"9 Thermidor" on the L'Histoire par image website
http://www.histoire-image.org/site/etude_comp/etude_comp_detail.php?i=271




The table is clearly visible in this 19th-century painting of Robespierre's last hours by Lucien-Étienne Melingue in the Musée de la Révolution française, Vizille.
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Lucien-Étienne Melingue, The morning of the 10th Thermidor Year II (1877)  [detail]
Musée de la Révolution française, Vizille
http://www.histoire-image.org/pleincadre/index.php?c=9%20thermidor&d=1&i=496

2 comments:

  1. A very interesting blog :) Do you know exactly where the Committee of Public Safety met? I've heard various locations?

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    Replies
    1. Here is a plan:
      https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quartier_des_Tuileries_sous_la_Convention.jpg


      The Committee was in the Petite-Galerie, close to the Pavillon de Flore. It occupied a suite interconnected rooms on the ground floor which had formerly belonged to Marie-Antoinette. The entrance was up some steps from the place du Caroussel, which led into two ante-chambers. The main meeting room had large windows and faced out onto the garden.

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