Art Analysis: The Storming of the Bastille By Difan Li

 Art Analysis: The Storming of the Bastille

By Difan Li

View the painting with this link: https://www.akg-images.com/archive/The-storming-of-the-Bastille-on-14th-July-1789-2UMDHUQTQE8Z.html

Art plays a prominent role in the record of history, often being created to preserve major historical events. Through these pieces of artwork, a better understanding of various time periods can be gained. The French Revolution, taking place in the decade between 1789 and 1799 inspired many such works, including those depicting the attack and fall of the Bastille Saint-Antoine, a fortress in Paris. Though there are many depictions of this major revolutionary victory, one of the most famous pieces was made by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand in 1789, titled The Storming Of The Bastille. The painting brings together the elements of art and design to weave a scene of battle, reminiscent of Charles Dickens’s novel, A Tale of Two Cities, which describes the very same scene.

This painting depicts the peasants of France storming the Bastille, the royal prison. The Bastille itself, which held the enemies of the king, was a symbol of the monarchy and their power over the lower class. It had come to represent oppression and tyranny, everything the citizens sought to escape. The citizens staged an attack on the great structure, marking the beginning of the French Revolution and giving the people their unstoppable momentum to wage war. The painting depicts a grisly scene just outside the Bastille walls. Hundreds of revolutionaries are armed with spears and guns and there are cannons being loaded and shot toward the fortress. There are some wounded from the fight and several people lie dead as well. Smoke from the gunfire fills the air around the crowd and emerges from above the towers of the Bastille as well. There are several notable details that the artist purposely implemented into the scene. Most of the people in the crowd wear peasants’ clothing rather than soldiers’ uniforms, signifying that the fighting is an act of the common people. The scene is also depicted realistically rather than being one of grandeur. Many of the people in the painting are lost and confused in the chaos of the battle, caught up in the violence and gunfire. None of the faces are clearly depicted or emphasized, symbolic of the peasantry as a singular force with no one main figure. This sets the painting apart from several others of the French Revolution. While, like many others, it depicts scenes of battle, it does not glamourize the fight. The intention of the artist was to accentuate the chaos of the fight itself, as the viewer's eyes are drawn across all of the figures in the foreground, some posed in fighting positions, some injured, and some lying dead. There are several figures climbing onto the fortress and forcing down the door, symbolic of the peasantry at the threshold of success. The light is equally distributed across the painting and onto the people and there is a notably clear blue sky, only obscured by the smoke. Though this is a scene of battle and death, the smoke in the air can almost be mistaken for the clouds, creating an idyllic background in contrast to the chaos in front. 

The mood of the painting is implemented through the use of elements such as perspective, color, and focal point. While the scene induces an atmosphere of violence and chaos, it evokes a feeling of grim determination, mirroring the courage of the revolutionaries as well. The revolutionaries are below the Bastille, fighting to move up and break into its walls. This is symbolic of the social hierarchy of France being thrown to chaos by the French Revolution as the lower classes revolt against the nobility and clergy. The small figures at the top of the Bastille, guards that represent the higher classes, are not enough to hold back the might of the crowd. The mood of the crowd, their unstoppable fury and desire for revenge, are echoed into the mood of the painting. The perspective of the viewer is from outside the Bastille and on the same side as the crowd of revolutionaries, looking in on what is soon to be conquered. This builds an emotional reflection of the people fighting as well. Vibrant colors are used for the peoples’ clothing, making them stand out amidst the smoke. The major colors identified upon first sight are red, blue, and white, the colors of France’s flag. While the peasants fight against the monarchy, they fight with the same formerly-patriotic fervor as they would in any war. In contrast to the people, the background of the bastille is painted in murkier colors, creating a mood of uncertainty of the future as the peasants struggle against something high and seemingly untouchable. The painting represents the time period of the Revolution not just through depicting a singular battle of the revolutionaries. The relative positions of the peasants and the Bastille are symbolic of the reality of France in the Ancien Régime, the former political and social system. The violence and chaos that the mood conveys likewise mirrors the turbulence of the entire time period. What’s also notable about the painting is that its title is “The Storming of the Bastille” rather than the “Fall of the Bastille.” Though its painter, Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, wished to show the peasants overthrowing the monarchy, he emphasizes the struggle of the process rather than the success and aftermath. 

This painting is reminiscent of a scene from the novel, A Tale of Two Cities. The storming of the Bastille is vividly described by Dickens and similarly to the painting, is shown from the perspective of the revolutionaries. Dickens describes the same rage that drove the peasants to attack the Bastille, comparing their anger to a “living sea” that “overflowed the city” (Dickens 223). This mood is likewise conveyed through the painting and its depiction of the revolutionaries posed and in the midst of battle. The setting of the painting is clearly reflected in the novel as well. The Bastille has the same “deep ditch,” “single drawbridge,” “massive stone walls,” and “eight great towers,” all of which the peasants have begun to attack (224). Everywhere there are “[c]annon[s], muskets, fire and smoke” as the peasants gather any means necessary to storm the fortress (224). The wildness and destruction of the crowd as they gain in fervor and ruthless determination is equally portrayed in both the painting and the book. Dickens describes the “remorseless sea of turbulently swaying shapes, voices of vengeance, and faces hardened in the furnaces of suffering” while the painting visually informs the viewer of the very same features (229).

The Storming of the Bastille is a piece of art that, through the analysis of the artistic elements implemented and the historical context, thoroughly reflects the time period in which it was completed. Providing a visual representation of the events in Dickens’s novel, A Tale of Two Cities, the painting of the revolutionaries’ first revolt for freedom helps readers to better navigate through the history of the French Revolution in the book. The details in the painting, from the usage of color and light to the contrasting qualities of the foreground and background, establish a mood of grim determination as well as chaos and destruction. All of these elements come together to play a role in delivering the artists’ interpretation of the French Revolution as well as emphasize the importance of the fall of the Bastille in history. 

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. 1859. Penguin Classics, 2000.

“The Storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789.” Www.akg-Images.com, www.akg-images.com/archive/The-storming-of-the-Bastille-on-14th-July-1789-2UMDHUQTQE8Z.html. Accessed 4 May 2022.