Frev appearance descriptions masterpost
Jean-Paul Marat â In Histoire de la RĂ©volution française: 1789-1796 (1851) Nicolas VilliaumĂ© pins down Maratâs height to four pieds and eight pouces (around 157 cm). This is a somewhat dubious claim considering VilliaumĂ© was born 26 years after Maratâs death and therefore hardly could have measured him himself, but we do know he had had contacts with Maratâs sister Albertine, so maybe thereâs still something to this. That Marat was short is however not something VillaumĂ© is alone in claiming. Brissotwrote in his memoirs that he was âthe size of a sapajou,â the pamphlet Bordel patriotique (1791) claimed that he had âsuch a sad face, such an unattractive height,â while John Moore in A Journal During a Residence in France, From the Beginning of August, to the Middle of December, 1792 (1793) documented that âMarat is little man, of a cadaverous complexion, and a countenance exceedingly expressive of his disposition. [âŠ] The only artifice he uses in favour of his looks is that of wearing a round hat, so far pulled down before as to hide a great part of his countenance.â In Portrait de Marat(1793) Fabre dâEglantine left the following very detailed description: âMarat was short of stature, scarcely five feet high. He was nevertheless of a firm, thick-set figure, without being stout. His shoulders and chest were broad, the lower part of his body thin, thigh short and thick, legs bowed, and strong arms, which he employed with great vigor and grace. Upon a rather short neck he carried a head of a very pronounced character. He had a large and bony face, aquiline nose, flat and slightly depressed, the under part of the nose prominent; the mouth medium-sized and curled at one corner by a frequent contraction; the lips were thin, the forehead large, the eyes of a yellowish grey color, spirited, animated, piercing, clear, naturally soft and ever gracious and with a confident look; the eyebrows thin, the complexion thick and skin withered, chin unshaven, hair brown and neglected. He was accustomed to walk with head erect, straight and thrown back, with a measured stride that kept time with the movement of his hips. His ordinary carriage was with his two arms firmly crossed upon his chest. In speaking in society he always appeared much agitated, and almost invariably ended the expression of a sentiment by a movement of the foot, which he thrust rapidly forward, stamping it at the same time on the ground, and then rising on tiptoe, as though to lift his short stature to the height of his opinion. The tone of his voice was thin, sonorous, slightly hoarse, and of a ringing quality. A defect of the tongue rendered it difficult for him to pronounce clearly the letters c and l, to which he was accustomed to give the sound g. There was no other perceptible peculiarity except a rather heavy manner of utterance; but the beauty of his thought, the fullness of his eloquence, the simplicity of his elocution, and the point of his speeches absolutely effaced the maxillary heaviness. At the tribune, if he rose without obstacle or excitement, he stood with assurance and dignity, his right hand upon his hip, his left arm extended upon the desk in front of him, his head thrown back, turned toward his audience at three-quarters, and a little inclined toward his right shoulder. If on the contrary he had to vanquish at the tribune the shrieking of chicanery and bad faith or the despotism of the president, he awaited the reĂ©stablishment of order in silence and resuming his speech with firmness, he adopted a bold attitude, his arms crossed diagonally upon his chest, his figure bent forward toward the left. His face and his look at such times acquired an almost sardonic character, which was not belied by the cynicism of his speech. He dressed in a careless manner: indeed, his negligence in this respect announced a complete neglect of the conventions of custom and of taste and, one might almost say, gave him an air of ressemblance.â
Albertine Marat â both Alphonse Ăsquiros and François-Vincent Raspail who each interviewed Albertine in her old age, as well as Albertineâs obituary (1841) noted a striking similarity in apperance between her and her older brother. Esquiros added that she had âtwo black and piercing eyes.â A neighbor of Albertine claimed in 1847 that she had âthe face of a man,â and that she had told her that âmy comrades were never jealous of me, I was too ugly for thatâ (cited in Marat et ses calomniateurs ou RĂ©futation de lâHistoire des Girondins de Lamartine (1847) by Constant Hilbe)Â
Simonne Evrard â An official minute from July 1792, written shortly after Maratâs death, affirmed the following: âHeight: 1m, 62, brown hair and eyebrows, ordinary forehead, aquiline nose, brown eyes, large mouth, oval face.â The minute for her interrogation instead says: âgrey eyes, average mouth.âCited in this article by marat-jean-paul.org. When a neighbor was asked whether Simonne was pretty or not around two decades after her death in 1824, she responded that she was âtrĂšs-bienâ and possessed âan angelic sweetnessâ (cited in Marat et ses calomniateurs ou RĂ©futation de lâHistoire des Girondins de Lamartine (1847) by Constant Hilbe) while Joseph Souberbielle instead claimed that âshe was extremely plain and could never have had any good looks.â
Maximilien Robespierre â The hostile pampleth Vie secrette, politique et curieuse de M. J Maximilien RobespierreâŠÂ released shortly after thermidor by L. Duperron, specifies Robespierreâs hight to have been âfive pieds and two or three poucesâ (between 165 and 170 cm). He gets described as being âof mediocre hightâ by his former teacher LiĂ©vin-Bonaventure Proyart in 1795, âa little below average heightâ by journalist Galart de Montjoie in 1795, âof medium hightâ by the former Convention deputy Antoine-Claire Thibaudeau in 1830 and âof middling formâ by his sister in 1834, but âof small sizeâ by John Moore in 1792 and Claude François Beaulieu in 1824. The 1792 pampleth Le vĂ©ritable portrait de nos lĂ©gislateursâŠÂ wrote that Robespierre lacked âan imposing physique, a body Ă la Danton,âsupported by Joseph FiĂ©vĂ©e who described him as âsmall and frailâ in 1836, and Louis Marie de La RĂ©velliĂšre who said he was âa physically puny manâ in his memoirs published 1895. For his face, both François GuĂ©rin (on a note written below a sketch in 1791), Buzot in his MĂ©moires sur la RĂ©volution française (written 1794), Germaine de StaĂ«l in her Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution (1818), a foreign visitor by the name of Reichardt in 1792 (cited in Robespierre by J.M Thompson), Beaulieu and La RĂ©velliĂšre-LĂ©peaux all agreed that he had a âpale complexion.â Charlotte does instead describe it as âdelicateâ and writes that Maximilienâs face âbreathed sweetness and goodwill, but it was not as regularly handsome as that of his brother,â while Proyart claims his apperance was âentirely commonplace.â The foreigner Reichardt wrote Robespierre had âflattened, almost crushed in, features,â something which Proyart agrees with, writing that his âvery flat featuresâ consisted of âa rather small head born on broad shoulders, a round face, an indifferent pock-marked complexion, a livid hue [and] a small round nose.â Thibaudeau writes Robespierre had a âthin face and cold physiognomy, bilious complexion and false look,â Duperron that âhis colouring was livid, bilious;  his eyes gloomy and dull,â something which Stanislas FrĂ©ron in Notes sur Robespierre (1794) also agrees with, claiming that âRobespierre was choked with bile. His yellow eyes and complexion showed it.â His eyes were however green according to Merlin de Thionville and GuĂ©rin while Proyart insists they were âpale blue and slightly sunken.â  Etienne Dumont, who claimed to have talked to Robespierre twice, wrote in his Souvernirs sur Mirabeau et sur les deux premiĂšres assemblĂ©es lĂ©gislatives (1832) that âhe had a sinister appearance; he would not look people in the face, and blinked continually and painfully,â and Duperron too insists on âa frequent flickering of the eyelids.â Both FrĂ©ron, Buzot, Merlin de Thionville, La RĂ©velliĂšre, Louis SĂ©bastien Mercier in his Le Nouveau Paris (1797) and Beffroy de Reigny in Dictionnaire nĂ©ologique des hommes et des choses ou notice alphabĂ©tique des hommes de la RĂ©volution, qui ont paru Ă lâAuteur les plus dignes dâattentionâŠÂ (1799) made the peculiar claim that Robespierreâs face was similar to that of a cat. Proyart, Beaulieu and Millingen all wrote that it was marked by smallpox scars, âmediocretlyâ according to Proyart, âdeeplyâ according to the other two. Proyart also writes that Robespierreâs hair was light brown (chĂątain-blond). He is the only one to have described his hair color as far as Iâm aware.Â
For his clothes, both Montjoie, Louis-SĂ©bastien Mercier in 1801, Helen Maria Williams in 1795, Duperron, Millingen and FiĂ©vĂ©e recall the fact that Robespierre wore glasses, the first two claiming he never appeared in public without them, Duperron that he âalmost alwaysâ wore them, and Millingen that they were green. Pierre Villiers, who claimed to have served as Robespierreâs secretary in 1790, recalled in Souvenirs d'un deportĂ©Â (1802) that Robespierre âwas very frugal, fastidiously clean in his clothes, I could almost say in his one coat, which was was of a dark olive colour,â but also that âHe was very poor and had not even proper clothes,â and even had to borrow a suit from a friend at one point. Duperron records that â[Robespierreâs] clothes were elegant, his hair always neat,â Millingen that âhis dress was careful, and I recollect that he wore a frill and ruffles, that seemed to me of valuable lace,âCharlotte that âhis dress was of an extreme cleanliness without fastidiousness,â Williams that he âalways appeared not only dressed with neatness, but with some degree of elegance, and while he called himself the leader of the sans-culottes, never adopted the costume of his band. His hideous countenance [âŠ] was decorated with hair carefully arranged and nicely powdered,â FiĂ©vĂ©e that Robespierre in 1793 was âalmost alone in having retained the costume and hairstyle in use before the Revolution,â something which made him ressemble âa tailor from the Ancien rĂ©gime,â Thibadeau that âhe was neat in his clothes, and he had kept the powder when no one wore it anymore,â Germaine de StaĂ«l that âhe was the only person who wore powder in his hair; his clothes were neat, and his countenance nothing familiar,â RĂ©velliĂšre writes that Robespierreâs voice was âtoneless, monotonous and harsh,â Beaulieu that it âwas sharp and shrill, almost always in tune with violence,â and  Thinadeau that his âtoneâ was âdogmatic and imperious.â
Augustin Robespierre â described as âbig, well formed, and [with a] face full of nobility and beautyâ in the memoirs of his sister Charlotte.
Charlotte Robespierre â an anonymous doctor who claimed to have run into Charlotte in 1833, the year before her death, described her as âvery thin.â Jules Simon, who reported to have met her the following year, did him too describe her as âa very thin woman, very upright in her small frame, dressed in the antique style with very puritanical cleanliness.â
Camille Desmoulins â described as âquite tall, with good shouldersâ in number 16 of the hostile journal Chronique du ManĂšge (1790). Described as ugly by both said journal, the journal Journal GĂ©nĂ©ral de la Cour et de la Ville in 1791, his friend François Suleau in 1791, former teacher Proyart in 1795, Galart de Montjoie in 1796, Georges Duval in 1841, Amandine Rolland in 1864 (she does however add that it was âwith that witty and animated ugliness that pleasesâ) and even himself in 1793. Proyart describes his complexion as âblack,â Duval as âbilious.â Both of them agree in calling his eyes âsinister.â Duval also claims that Desmoulinsâ physiognomy was similar to that of an ospray. Montjoie writes that Desmoulins had âa difficult pronunciation, a hard voice, no oratorical talentâŠâ, Proyart that âhe spoke very heavily and stammered in speechâ and Camille himself that he has âdifficulty in pronunciationâ in a letter dated March 1787 and confesses âthe feebleness of my voice and my slight oratorical powersâ in number 4 of the Vieux Cordelier. In his very last letter to his wife, dated April 1 1794, Desmoulins reveals that he wears glasses.
Lucile Desmoulins â The concierge at the Sainte-PĂ©lagie prison documented the following when Lucille was brought before him on April 4 1794: âheight of five pieds and one and a half pouce (166 cm). Brown hair, eyebrows and eyes. Middle sized nose and mouth. Round face and chin. Ordinary front. A mark above the chin on the right.â Cited in Camille et Lucile Desmoulins: un rĂȘve de rĂ©publique (2018). Described as beautiful by the journal Journal GĂ©nĂ©ral de la Cour et de la Ville in 1791 (it specifies her to be âas pretty as her husband is uglyâ), former Convention deputy Pierre Paganel in 1815, Louis Marie Prudhomme in 1830, Amandine Rolland in 1864 and ThĂ©odore de Lameth (memoirs published 1913).
Georges Danton â Described as having an ugly face by both Manon Roland in 1793, Vadier in 1794, the anonymous pamphlet Histoire, caractĂšre de Maximilien Robespierre et anecdotes sur ses successeurs in 1794, Louis-SĂ©bastien Mercier in 1797, Antoine Fantin-Desodoards in 1807, John Gideon Millingen in 1848, Ălisabeth Duplay Lebas in the 1840s, the memoirs (1860) of François-RenĂ© Chateaubriand (he specifies that Danton had âthe face of a gendarme mixed with that of a lustful and cruel prosecutorâ) as well as the MĂ©moires de la SocietĂ© dâagriculture, commerce, sciences et arts du department de la Marse, Chalons-sur-Marne (1862). As reason for this ugliness, Millingen lifts his âcourse, shaggy hairâ (that apparently gave him the apperance of a âwild beastâ), the fact he was deeply marked with small-poxes, and that his eyes were unusually small (âand sparkling in surrounding darknessâ), while Chateaubriand instead underlines that he was âsnub-nosed,â with âwindy nostrils [and] seamed flats.â Mercier writes that Dantonâs face was âhideously crushed.â The former Convention deputy Alexandre Rousselin (1774-1847) reported in his Danton â Fragment Historique that Danton developed a lip deformity after getting gored by a bull as a baby, had his nose crushed by another bull, got trampled in the face by a group of pigs and finally survived âa very serious case of smallpoxes, accompanied by purpura.â Vadier claims that Danton possessed a ârobust form, colossal eloquence,â the anonymous pamphlet that âhe was very strong, he said himself that he had athletic forms,â Desodoards that he âheld the nature of athletic and colossal forms,â Chateaubriand that he was âa vandal in the size of Gothâ (donât know who heâs referring to), Pierre Paganel (in Essai historique et critique sur la rĂ©volution française: ses causes, ses rĂ©sultats, avec les portraits des hommes les plus cĂ©lĂšbres (1815) volume 2, page) that he was of an âenormous stature,â while the pamphlet described him as a âgigantic oratorâ whose voice âshook the vaults of the hall.â RenĂ© Levasseur in 1829, Millingen, Paganel and Desodoards all agreed with this, the first three writing that Danton possessed a âstentorian voice,â the latter that he had âa very strong voice, without being sonorous or flexible.â In her memoirs (1834) Charlotte Robespierre claims that â[Danton] did not at all conserve the dignity suited to the representative of a great people in his manners; his toilette was in disorder.â
Louis Antoine Saint-Just â In Saint-Just (1985) Bernard Vinot writes that Saint-Justâs childhood friend Augustin Lejeune recalled his âhonest physiognomy,â and that his sister Louise would evoke her brotherâs âgreat beautyâ for her grandchildren (I unfortunately canât find the original sources here), while the elderly Ălisabeth Le Bas too stated that âhe was handsome, Saint-Just, with his pensive face, on which one saw the greatest energy, tempered by an air of indefinable gentleness and candorâ (testimony found in Les Carnets de David dâAngers (1838-1855) by Pierre-Jean David dâAngers, cited in Veuve de Thermidor: le rĂŽle et l'influence d'Ălisabeth Duplay-Le Bas (1772-1859) sur la mĂ©moire et l'historiographie de la RĂ©volution française (2023) by JolĂšne Audrey Bureau, page 127). In Souvenirs de la rĂ©volution et de lâempire, Charles Nodier (who was twelve years old when he met Saint-JustâŠ) agrees in calling him âhandsome,â but adds that he âwas far from offering this graceful combination of cute features with which we have seen it endowed by the euphemistic pencil of a lithograph,â had an âample and rather disproportionate chin,â that âthe arc of his eyebrows, instead of rounding into smooth and regular semi-circles, was closer to a straight line, and its interior angles, which were bushy and severe, merged into one another at the slightest serious thought that one saw pass on his foreheadâand finally that âhis soft and fleshy lips indicated an almost invincible inclination to laziness and voluptuousness.â How would you know what his lips were like, Nodier. In Essai historique et critique sur la rĂ©volution française (1815) Pierre Paganel writes that Saint-Just had âregular features and austere physiognomy.â He describes his complexion as âbiliousâ while Nodier calls it âpale and grayish, like that of most of the active men of the revolution.â Similar to Ălisabethâs description, Nodier writes that Saint-Justâs eyes were big and âusually thoughtful,â while Paganel instead writes they were âsmall and lively.â According to Paganel, Saint-Just had a âhealthy body [and] proportions which expressed strength,â while Saint-Justâs colleague Levasseur de la Sarthe instead wrote in his memoirs that he was âweak in body, to the point of fearing the whistling of bullets.â Finally, Paganel also gives the following details: âaverage height, large head, thick hair, disdainful gaze, strong but veiled voice, a general tinge of anxiety, the dark accent of concern and distrust, an extreme coldness in tone and manners.â In Lettre de Camille Desmoulins, dĂ©putĂ© de Paris Ă la Convention, August gĂ©nĂ©ral Dillon en prison aux Madelonettes (1793) Desmoulins jokingly writes that âone can see by [Saint-Justâs] gait and bearing that he looks upon his own head as the corner-stone of the Revolution, for he carries it upon his shoulders with as much respect and as if it was the Sacred Host.â In Histoire de la RĂ©volution française(1878), Jules Michelet claims that Ălisabeth Le Bas had told him that this portrait, depicting Saint-Just as having âa very low forehead, [with] the top of his head flattened, so that his hair, without being long, almost touched his eyes,â was similar to what he had looked like.
Jacques-Pierre Brissot â The following was documented after Brissot had been arrested at Moulins on June 10 1793 â âheight of five pieds (162 cm), a small amount of flat dark brown hair, eyebrows of the same color, high forehead and receding hairline, gray-brown, quite large and covered eyes, long and not very large nose, average mouth, long chin with a dimple, black beard, oval face narrow at the bottomâ (cited in J.-P. Brissot mĂ©moires (1754-1793); [suivi de] correspondance et papiers (1912)). In Journal During a Residence in France, from the Beginning of August, to the Middle of December, 1792John Moore described Brissot as âa little man, of an intelligent countenance, but of a weakly frame of bodyâ and claimed that a person had told him that Brissot had told him that he is âof so feeble a constitutionâ that he wonât be able to put up any resistance was someone try to assassinate him.
JĂ©rĂŽme PĂ©tion â described as âbig and fatâ (grand et gros) by Louis-Philippe in 1850 (cited in The Croker Papers: the Correspondence and Diaries of the late right honourable John Wilson CrokerâŠÂ (1885) volume 3, page 209). Manon Roland wrote in her memoirs that PĂ©tion âhad nothing to regret physically; his size, his face, his gentleness, his urbanity, speak in his favorâ as well as that he âspoke fairly well,â a descriptions which Louis Marie Prudhomme partly agreed with, himself recording that PĂ©tion âhad a proud countenance, a fairly handsome face, an affable look, a gentle eloquence, movements of talent and address; but his manners were composed, his eyes were dull, and he had something glistening in his features which repelled confidenceâ in Paris pendant le rĂ©volution (1789-1798) ou le nouveau Paris (1798). In Quelques notices pour lâhistoire, et le rĂ©cit de mes pĂ©rils depuis le 31 mai 1793 (1794) Jean-Baptiste Louvet reported that, while on the run from the authorities after the insurrection of May 31, the less than forty years old PĂ©tion already had a white hair and beard. This is confirmed by FrĂ©dĂ©ric Vaultier, who in Souvenirs de l'insurrection Normande, dite du FĂ©dĂ©ralisme, en 1793 (1858) described PĂ©tion during the same period as âa good-looking man, with a calm and open physiognomy and beautiful white hair,â as well as by the examination of his mangled courpse on June 26 1794, which states he had âgrayish hairâ (cited in Charlotte de Corday et les Girondins: piĂšces classĂ©es et annotĂ©es (1872) by Charles Vatel, volume 2, page 154.
François Buzot â according to the memoirs (1793) of Manon Roland, he had âa noble figure and elegant size.â In the examination made of Buzotâs body after the suicide there is to read that he had black hair (cited in Charlotte de Corday et les Girondins: piĂšces classĂ©es et annotĂ©es (1872) by Charles Vatel, volume 2, page 153)
Charles Barbaroux â his son wrote in Jeunesse de Barbaroux (1822) that ânature had richly endowed Barbaroux; a robust and large body; a charming, fine and witty physiognomy.â In 1867, François Laprade, who had witnessed Barbarouxâ execution as a thirteen year old, recollected that âhe was a brown man - that is to say he had brownish skin, black hair and beard, reclining figureâ (cited inCharlotte de Corday et les Girondins: piĂšces classĂ©es et annotĂ©es, volume 3, page 728)
Marguerite-Ălie Guadet â According to his passport (cited in Charlotte de Corday et les Girondins: piĂšces classĂ©es et annotĂ©es, volume 3, page 672): âheight of 5 pieds, 5 pouces (176 cm) middle sized mouth, black hair and eyebrows, ordinary chin, blue eyes, big forehead, thin face, upturned nose.â According to FrĂ©dĂ©ric Vaultierâs Souvenirs de l'insurrection Normande, dite du FĂ©dĂ©ralisme, en 1793(1858), âGuadet was a man of fine height, meagre, brown, bilious complexion, black beard, most expressive face.â
Joseph Le Bon â his passport description (cited in Louis Jacob, Joseph Le Bon, (1932) by Louis Jacob, volume 1, page 63) gives the following information: âHeight five pieds six pouces (178 cm), light brown hair and eyebrows, high forehead, average nose, blue eyes, medium-sized mouth, smallpox scars.â
Claire Lacombe â the concierge of the Sainte PĂ©lagie documented the following about the imprisoned Lacombe: âheight of 5 pieds, 2 pouces (168 cm). Brown hair, eyebrows and eyes, medium nose, large mouth, round face and chin, plain foreheadâ (cited in Trois femmes de la RĂ©volution : Olymps de Gouges, ThĂ©roigne de MĂ©ricourt, Rose Lacombe (1900) by LĂ©opold Lacour)
Charlotte Corday â according to her passport, âheight of five pieds one pouce (165 cm), brown hair and eyebrows, gray eyes, high forehead, long nose, medium mouth, round, forked (fourchu) chin, oval face.â (cited in Dossiers du procĂšs criminel de Charlotte Corday, devant le Tribunal rĂ©volutionnaire(1861) by Charles-Joseph Vatel, page 55)
Prieur de la Marne â a passport dated October 1 1793 gives the following details: âage of 37 years, height of 5 pieds 5 pouces (176 cm), blondish brown hair and eyebrows, receding hairline, long nose, grey eyes, large mouth.â
Maurice Duplay â âheight of 5 pieds 6 pouces (179 cm), blondish brown hair and eyebrows, receding hairline, grey eyes, long, open nose, large mouth, round, full chin and face.â Descriptions given in 1795 and cited in Les deniers montagnards (1874) by Jules Claretie.
Jean Lambert Tallien â Both a spy report written in 1794 found among Robespierreâs papers and Mme de la Tour du Pin, a noblewoman who met Tallien in late 1793, describe Tallien as blonde. Mme de la Tour du Pin adds that said hair was curly and that he had a pretty face.
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