Charles-Pierre-Joseph Normand (1765-1840) Les... Lot 31

Charles-Pierre-Joseph Normand (1765-1840) Les Formes acerbes. 1795. Engraved after Lafitte. 377x335. Very fine proof on laid paper, trimmed on the plate cut and complete with tablet. Small traces of glue on verso. Rare.CR} "The engraving executed by Normand from a drawing by Louis Lafitte offers, in an allegorical mode, perhaps the most sophisticated image of the myth of the cannibal Jacobin. It was commissioned by a magistrate from Dunkirk named Poirier, to take revenge on Joseph Le Bon and fan the flames of horror aroused by the crimes ordered by this Conventionnel during his mission in Pas-de-Calais under the Terror. [...] Le Bon had become all the more lost in the eyes of public opinion as the cruelty he displayed after the Republican victory at Fleurus on June 26, 1794, contrasted with the moderation he had shown throughout his political career. After the 9th of Thermidor, he became, along with Robespierre, the symbol of a bloodthirsty regime. Denounced at the Convention in July 1794, he was defended by Barère, who conceded that his actions had taken on "acerbic forms". The print with this title was published on May 13, 1795, a week after the appointment of a commission to examine Le Bon's past conduct. Brought before the Somme criminal court on July 17 of the same year, he was condemned to death and executed on October 16 in Amiens." (M. Korchane, "Thermidor et l'imaginaire de la Terreur", article online at histoire-image.org.)