Revolutionary “paradise” With The Goddess Of Reason, Nevers

[FRENCH REVOLUTION]. [CULT OF REASON]. Revolutionary “Paradise” with the goddess of Reason. Nevers, ca 1793 -1794. Frame dimensions: 34.5 x 25 cm. Small losses of gilding, bottom of the frame reglued, restorations to the skirt of the female figure and to the smallest cherub, which has also lost an arm. Rare diorama with spun glass figures from Nevers representing a civic ceremony of the Cult of Reason during the Revolution. In a gilded wooden frame of the period, a grotto setting has been arranged, composed of papier-mâché painted in different colors and scattered with glass sequins, shells, fabric flowers, glass cabochons. In the center, on a rock surmounted by a canopy, is a female figure in spun glass personifying the goddess of Reason, whose headdress bears a tricolor cockade, holding a garland of flowers, with a dog at her feet. It is framed by two spun glass cherubs. These dioramas are typical of the production of Nevers crafts in the 18th century. Most of the time, they represent religious scenes with saints, or the Virgin, hence their nickname "Paradise of Nevers". Here the subject is much more original: it is a revolutionary "paradise", a civic ceremony of the Cult of Reason. The Cult of Reason, an atheist and anticlerical movement supported by the Hébertists, was established during the Terror between the autumn of 1793 and the spring of 1794. Its main objective was to de-Christianize French society. It was replaced by the cult of the Supreme Being under the leadership of Robespierre. We have not found other examples of Nevers dioramas with a revolutionary subject.