Lyon School Drawing Portrait Man Flag Revolution Liberty Chalon-sur-saone 1848 History

Lyon school, mid-19th century (close to Jean-Baptiste Danguin or Claude Bonnefond)Charcoal – 70 × 54 cm (view: 59 × 43 cm)Beautiful old drawing, dated and located "Sunday April 9, 1848, day of the planting of the tree of liberty in Chalon-sur-Saône"This charcoal work bears witness to the link between art, political commitment and local memory at the time of the Revolution of 1848. It represents the hyeratic portrait of a standing man, dressed in a dark suit, proudly holding a tricolor flag adorned with the motto "French Republic - Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and the inscription "Club du Thiard".

The date inscribed – April 9, 1848 – corresponds to the planting of the Tree of Liberty in Chalon-sur-Saône, a major republican symbol. Under the Second Republic, the Tree of Liberty marked a moment of civic celebration and popular cohesion. Heir to the revolutionary plantings of 1790, it embodied the strength and durability of republican ideals.

At a time when France had just overthrown the July Monarchy, planting this tree amounted to anchoring in the earth the promise of equality and fraternity. The figure, rendered with precise modeling typical of the Lyon workshops, expresses a militant pride tempered by an inner gravity.
His fixed, slightly darkened gaze reflects awareness of the historical moment; his hand slipped into his jacket, a gesture borrowed from official iconography, gives him dignity and determination. The work shows some traces of humidity visible on the left edge and in the lower part, but the subject is spared.