Tickets
English
DonateMembershipTickets

Revolutionary Calendar

1793
Not on view
Following the French Revolution, a Republican calendar was adopted and in use from 1793 to 1805. The religious and royalist references of the Gregorian calendar were purged and replaced with names drawn from nature. With a structure based on the decimal system, the new calendar began each year in the autumn.

Debucourt presents the calendar with the months and days of Year II (1793–94) inscribed in a box. The allegorical figure of Philosophy sits atop a stone outcropping amid various symbols of learning and the newly founded French Republic. Based on his own design, it is a tour de force of the aquatint technique, employing a full range of painterly tones, from white and pale grays through the inkiest blacks.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Revolutionary Calendar
  • Artist: Louis Philibert Debucourt (French, Paris 1755–1832 Paris)
  • Date: 1793
  • Medium: Etching and aquatint
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 19 3/16 × 16 3/8 in. (48.8 × 41.6 cm)
    Plate: 17 1/4 × 14 15/16 in. (43.8 × 38 cm)
    Image: 16 3/4 × 14 1/4 in. (42.6 × 36.2 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Funds from various donors, 2013
  • Object Number: 2013.252
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
The Pleasures of Fatherhood, Louis Philibert Debucourt French, Etching and aquatint, printed in color
The Pleasures of Fatherhood
Artist and engraver Louis Philibert Debucourt
n.d.
Guitar, Jean-Baptiste Voboam French, Spruce, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, ivory, ebony, French
Guitar
attributed to Jean-Baptiste Voboam
1697
Seated Giant, Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Burnished aquatint, scaper, roulette, lavis (along the top of the landscape and within the landscape)
Seated Giant
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
by 1818 (possibly 1814–18)
The Public Promenade, Louis Philibert Debucourt French, Etching, engraving, and aquatint printed in color
The Public Promenade
Louis Philibert Debucourt
1792
Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French
Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.