Singing “The Marseillaise” in 1840: The Case of Charlet's Censored Prints

Abstract

This investigation focuses on the censored prints of Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet and his response to the censorship process in 1840. Charlet was the most heavily censored artist in a period that witnessed the most intensive application of the so-called “September Laws” during the twelve years of their existence. Concurrent with and directly related to this resurgence of censorship were the outbreak of mass enthusiasm for a war in the Middle East and the beginnings of a determined campaign by radical republicans for social and electoral reform. In rejecting Charlet's prints the censor was attempting to suppress these interrelated demands for war and for fundamental changes in the social order. There were, however, limits placed upon the censor's powers. While he was able to eliminate overt criticism of governmental policy, he had little control over less explicit political protest encoded in prints under his surveillance. These limits become evident in a study of the content of works by Charlet that were approved by the censor and in an examination of the process by which they gained approval.

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Notes on contributors

Michael Paul Driskel

The primary focus of Michael Driskel's research and writing (including articles in Arts and on Flandrin in the Art Bulletin, 1984) is on how systems of beliefs and social and political concerns are conveyed through the visual arts. The recent recipient of a Getty Post-Doctoral Fellowship, he is preparing a monograph on the tomb of Napoleon in the Invalides and the contest for it held in 1841. [Department of Art, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912]