The Revolutionary Sansculotte

1
The Revolutionary Sans-culotte

• Describe The Sans-culotte.
• What Does His Costume Tell Us About The
  Sans-culotte?
• Who Made This Image and Why?

2
"Reply to the Impertinent Question What is a
Sans-Culotte?" (April
1793) A sans-culotte you rogues? He is
someone who always goes on foot, who has no
millions as you would all like to have, no
chateaux. No valets to serve him, and who lives
simply with his wife and children, if he has any,
on a fourth or fifth story. He is useful, because
he knows how to work in the field, to forge iron,
to use a saw, to use a file, to roof a house, to
make shoes, and to shed his last drop of blood
for the safety of the Republic. And because he
works, you are sure not to meet his person in the
Café de Chartres, or in the gaming house where
others conspire and game, nor at the National
theatre . . . nor in the literary clubs. . . . In
the evening he goes to his section, not powdered
or perfumed, or smartly booted in the hope of
catching the eye of the citizenesses in the
galleries, but ready to support good proposals
with all his might, and to crush those which come
from the abominable faction of politicians. Finall
y, a sans-culottes always has his sabre sharp, to
cut off the ears of all enemies of the
Revolution sometimes he even goes out with his
pike, but at the first sound of the drum he is
ready to leave for the Vendée, for the army of
the Alps or to the army of the North. . .
. Source Reprinted in Walter Markov and Albert
Soboul, eds., Die Sansculotten von Paris,
republished trans. By Clive Emsley in Merryn
Williams, ed., Revolutions 1755-1830 (Baltimore
Penguin, 1971), pp. 100-101.
"Reply to the Impertinent Question What is a
Sans-Culotte?" (April
1793) A sans-culotte you rogues? He is
someone who always goes on foot, who has no
millions as you would all like to have, no
chateaux. No valets to serve him, and who lives
simply with his wife and children, if he has any,
on a fourth or fifth story. He is useful, because
he knows how to work in the field, to forge iron,
to use a saw, to use a file, to roof a house, to
make shoes, and to shed his last drop of blood
for the safety of the Republic. And because he
works, you are sure not to meet his person in the
Café de Chartres, or in the gaming house where
others conspire and game, nor at the National
theatre . . . nor in the literary clubs. . . . In
the evening he goes to his section, not powdered
or perfumed, or smartly booted in the hope of
catching the eye of the citizenesses in the
galleries, but ready to support good proposals
with all his might, and to crush those which come
from the abominable faction of politicians. Finall
y, a sans-culottes always has his sabre sharp, to
cut off the ears of all enemies of the
Revolution sometimes he even goes out with his
pike, but at the first sound of the drum he is
ready to leave for the Vendée, for the army of
the Alps or to the army of the North. . . .