In 1765, Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793), a Frenchman of Swiss birth, set up as a physician in London, despite lack of formal qualifications. In 1770, he became a vet in Newcastle upon Tyne and while there wrote his first political work, Chains of Slavery, which was inspired by the work of the political reformer John Wilkes. In 1775, Marat's essay on curing a friend’s gonorrhea helped him secure an honorary medical degree from St Andrews University. Marat was to spend about 20 years in Britain. While there, he taught French at Warrington Academy and served as an assistant to Joseph Priestly. But Marat had problems along the way. He incurred heavy debt and was sentenced to 5 years of hard labor for stealing very valuable gold coins and medallions from Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum in 1776. So the 1780s found Marat in Paris, where he initially secured an appointment as a court doctor. He continued publishing scientific papers, and in 1789 began his own political paper.
Marat quickly blossomed into a radical journalist. Known for his fiery oratory and writing, he emerged as an architect and leader of the bloody Reign of Terror that swept France from June 1793. On July 13th 1793, a young girl named Charlotte Corday, blaming Marat for the mass misery and the steady stream of guillotine victims, visited Marat’s home armed with a 6-inch kitchen knife. Marat was conducting business from his bathtub, where he customarily languished for hours to treat a terrible skin disease he had contracted years earlier while hiding in Paris’s sewers. Charlotte stabbed Marat and he died in his tub. Just four days later, on 17 July 1793, Charlotte Corday, aged 24, went to the guillotine for her crime. During her trial, she stated “I killed one man to save 100,000.”
Marat quickly blossomed into a radical journalist. Known for his fiery oratory and writing, he emerged as an architect and leader of the bloody Reign of Terror that swept France from June 1793. On July 13th 1793, a young girl named Charlotte Corday, blaming Marat for the mass misery and the steady stream of guillotine victims, visited Marat’s home armed with a 6-inch kitchen knife. Marat was conducting business from his bathtub, where he customarily languished for hours to treat a terrible skin disease he had contracted years earlier while hiding in Paris’s sewers. Charlotte stabbed Marat and he died in his tub. Just four days later, on 17 July 1793, Charlotte Corday, aged 24, went to the guillotine for her crime. During her trial, she stated “I killed one man to save 100,000.”
That same year, supporters of the Revolution commissioned Jacques-Louis David—Marat’s friend and fellow revolutionary-- to paint Marat’s portrait as a piece of revolutionary propaganda. The resulting portrait, The Death of Marat, shows Marat dead in his bathtub. Charlotte Corday is not in the painting, nor is there evidence of Marat’s nasty skin disease and massive facial tumor. The painting’s initial fame was short-lived because political sentiment changed. In 1795, The Death of Marat was returned to David and it was largely forgotten until the mid 19thC.
So why do we have an English earthenware figure of this French drama? This lovely Staffordshire figure, made by Lakin & Poole, is titled The Assassination of MARAT by CHARLOTTE CORDE of Caen, in Normandy. 1793.
'The Assassination of MARAT, by CHARLOTTE.CORDE of Caen, in Normandy. 1793.' Impressed LAKIN & POOLE. Courtesy Bonhams.
Of course the French revolution was a hot topic in England. Charlotte Corday must have become a hero among Britain’s better classes when she silenced one of the Revolution’s most prominent mouthpieces. British depictions of Marat’s murder quickly appeared in print shop windows. They were very different to David’s tribute to Marat because they included images of Charlotte Corday. The earliest print was probably this one by Isaac Cruickshank. Published in the month of the event, it is titled A Second Jean D'Arc or the Assassination of Marat by Charlotte Corde of Caen in Normandy on Sunday July 14 1793. A second Joan of Arc? From Cruikshank's perspective, Charlotte was a martyr.
'A Second Jean D'Arc or the Assassination of Marat by Charlotte Corde of Caen in Normandy on Sunday July 14 1793.' Isaac Cruickshank. Published July 14, 1793.
Yes, Charlotte Corday was a hero in Britain. Look how lovely she looks before a dour revolutionary tribunal in James Gillray’s etching of her trial. The heroic Charlotte la Cordé, upon her trial, at the bar of the revolutionary tribunal of Paris, July 17, 1793, by James Gillray, ublished 19 July 1793.
But I think the print that inspired our figure group was published a year later, in 1794.
'The Death of Marat, Late Member of the National Convention, at Paris, on the 13th of July 1793.' Published 12. May. 1794, by Laurie & Whittle, 53, Fleet Street, London.
This print bears the strongest resemblance and clearly inspired Lakin and Poole's lovely pearlware figure group.
Marat's murder was hot news in its day, and Staffordshire potters have forever captured the moment in clay. Lakin and Poole's figure group is a time capsule, reminding us of an event that might otherwise be forgotten.
Marat's murder was hot news in its day, and Staffordshire potters have forever captured the moment in clay. Lakin and Poole's figure group is a time capsule, reminding us of an event that might otherwise be forgotten.
