Description
In Fédération générale des Français au Champ de Mars, a large crowd of Frenchmen watch a procession of soldiers in celebration of the federation of the French government on the first anniversary of the Revolution.
Charles Monnet was a French painter of history, genre, landscapes and decorations, as well as producing drawings for prints and illustrated books. As a student at the Royal Academy he won first prize for his painting and was accepted as a member and debuted in its exhibitions two years later, in 1767. In the ensuing years he continued to exhibit regularly at the Salon exhibitions, and completed commissions for aristocratic patrons including two paintings of mythological scenes for the dining room of the Petit Trianon at the Palace of Versailles (1768 and 1772). He also illustrated books, including a fine edition of the fables of La Fontaine. Monnet made the drawings depicting scenes of the French Revolution that were engraved by Isidore-Stanislas-Henri Helman as well as a set of 69 drawings illustrating the history of France under the empire of Napoleon. At the end of his life he was named professor of drawing at the l’École de Saint-Cyr.
Isidore-Stanislas-Henri Helman was a French engraver and printseller. He studied drawing in his native town of Lille and completed his training in Paris. By 1777, he had established a reputation as an engraver of genre scenes. He is known for his suites of fashion engravings after Jean-Michel Moreau which were republished with a text by Restif de La Bretonne as the Monument du costume (1789). He also engraved a series of plates after Charles Monnet depicting scenes from the French Revolution, as well as religious and genre subjects after Baudouin, Bertaux, Lavreince and de la Fosse.
References:
Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. France: Librairie Gründ, 1966. (Helman, Vol. 4, p. 648; Monnet, Vol. 6, p. 179) (specifically mentioning these works).
“Isidore-Stanislaus-Henri Helman.” The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/03/0374/T037435.asp (13 August 2004).
“The Fountain of Regeneration.” Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. George Mason University.” http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/14 (13 August 2004).
