The Bravery of Parisian Women on October 5, 1789

The Bravery of Parisian Women on October 5, 1789

Jacques-Philippe Caresme

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print is dedicated to the working-class women of Paris who marched on Versailles to protest the high price and shortage of bread, which became one of the founding events of the French Revolution. The woman in combat at center is Louise Reine Audu, a fruit seller who, according to contemporary accounts, killed several royal guards in the confrontation. She was apparently among the small delegation of women allowed to directly petition King Louis XVI. Caresme made two revolutionary prints but is otherwise known for his paintings of gallant themes.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Bravery of Parisian Women on October 5, 1789The Bravery of Parisian Women on October 5, 1789The Bravery of Parisian Women on October 5, 1789The Bravery of Parisian Women on October 5, 1789The Bravery of Parisian Women on October 5, 1789

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.