'Niera-t-on le pouvoir des arts?' Revisiting Jacques-Louis David at the 1846 Exhibition in the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle

Abstract

The first exhibition of the Association des artistes peintres, sculpteurs, architectes et graveurs, held in the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in January-March 1846, is best known for Baudelaire's review `Le musée classique du Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle', published in Le Corsaire-Satan. This article examines the hitherto largely unexplored wider critical reception of the work of Jacques-Louis David on show at the exhibition, with particular reference to his representation of the death of Marat, painted in 1793. It argues that reaction to this work brought to the surface underlying tensions among both conservative supporters and reformist and republican opponents of the July Monarchy.