Le Dévouement des Citoyennes de Paris (The Dedication of the Citizens of Paris) (1794): Art, History and Details

Le Dévouement des Citoyennes de Paris (The Dedication of the Citizens of Paris) (1794) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Joseph-Benoît Suvée (French, 1743–1807).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Painted during the French Revolution’s treacherous Reign of Terror, the artist took inspiration from an actual event. In 1789, wives and daughters of several prominent artists donated their jewelry to the service of the young French republic. Joseph-Benoit Suvée recasts the event in classical Roman style, underscoring the connection between the ancient republic and France’s revolutionary ambitions.

Object facts

• Title: Le Dévouement des Citoyennes de Paris (The Dedication of the Citizens of Paris)
• Date: 1794
• Creator attribution: Joseph-Benoît Suvée (French, 1743–1807)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Overall: 49.9 x 61.3 cm (19 5/8 x 24 1/8 in.)
• Collection: P - Netherlandish-Flemish
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2022.40

A detail from the museum

Shortly after submitting this sketch, the artist was imprisoned for not being sufficiently loyal to the republic.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Olander, William. Pour Transmettre À La Postérité: French Painting and Revolution, 1774-1795. 1983.
• Galeries nationales du Grand Palais (France), and Council of Europe. La Révolution française et l'Europe 1789-1799: XXe exposition du conseil de l'Europe : Galeries nationales du grand Palais, Paris, 16 mars-26 juin 1989. Paris: Ministère de la Culture de la Communication des Grands Travaux et du Bicentenaire, Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1989.
• Tajan (Firm). Félix Tournachon dit Nadar (1820-1910) et son panthéon, importante collection de 273 dessins: portraits et portraits-charge. Paris: Tajan, 2004.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.