Louis XVI Entering Paris, October 6, 1789

Jacques François Joseph Swebach

1789 · Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, watercolor and gouache, over graphite · Drawings and Prints

One outcome of the Women’s March on Versailles was that Louis XIV conceded to bringing his court and the National Constituent Assembly to Paris. In this watercolor, Swebach depicts the arrival procession of the royal family through the city, with onlookers peering from every window and both revelers and protesters lining the street. The artist chose a symbolically fraught moment as the carriage approaches the gate to the Dominican monastery on the rue Saint-Honoré, which soon became the seat of the Jacobins after the nationalization of Church property the following month. Swebach, who also adopted the name Desfontaines, signed and dated this work in the banner hanging from the building at right.

Artist

Jacques François Joseph Swebach

Date

1789

Medium

Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, watercolor and gouache, over graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Karen B. Cohen Gift, 1986