La Toilette des Morts, from "Illustrated London News"

Engraver William Luson Thomas British
 After Edward Matthew Ward British
 Subject Charlotte Corday French

Not on view

Charlotte Corday, who murdered the Jacobin Jean-Marie Marat, is seen here imprisoned in the Conciergerie (a medieval palace in Paris) awaiting execution. An artist who has just finished her portrait packs away his paints, and a jailor who wears a Cap of Liberty cuts Charlotte's hair to prepare her for the guillotine. The print is based on a painting shown at the Royal Academy in 1863 titled "Charlotte Corday—Her last toilette before her execution." The image offers a grim variation on a woman's dressing ritual, with the jailor replacing a hairdresser, and the canvas taking the place of a mirror.

La Toilette des Morts, from "Illustrated London News", William Luson Thomas (British, London 1830–1900 Chertsey, Surrey), Wood engraving

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