Exhibition labels & didactics - National Gallery of Victoria

16
FRANCE
The storming of the Bastille prison and
the arrest of its governor,
Bernard-René de Launay, 14 July 1789
Prise de la Bastille et arrestation du
gouverneur M. de Launay, le 14 juillet 1789
1789
oil on canvas
Versailles, musée national du château MV 5517
The ‘Storming of the Bastille’, the first
decisive intervention of the people against
the ancien régime, is celebrated as the
birth of modern France. Triggered by news
that royal forces were preparing to attack a
disgruntled Paris populace, on 14 July 1789
hundreds of workers laid siege to this
medieval prison, where stockpiles of
gunpowder and weapons were held.
Angry crowds forced the prison’s governor
and his garrison to surrender, and went on
to demolish the prison itself, a hated symbol
of despotism.
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