Portraits of Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel (1727-1794), Bishop of Paris in 1792-93, and Pierre-Gaspard Chaumette (1763-1794), Procurator of the Commune in 1792, sketched on the way to the guillotine, April 12, 1794. 1794

Editor: This piece is a pencil sketch from 1794 by Baron Dominique Vivant Denon, currently held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's titled "Portraits of Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel and Pierre-Gaspard Chaumette." Knowing that it depicts them on their way to the guillotine definitely casts a somber shadow over the delicate lines. What strikes you most about this drawing? Curator: Oh, this sends shivers down my spine every time! Imagine Denon, furiously sketching, capturing these men at their most vulnerable. The stark simplicity, the almost clinical detachment of the pencil lines... it speaks volumes. It's not just a portrait; it's a historical document etched in anxiety. See how Denon emphasizes the aquiline noses, the set jaws? He's preserving their likeness, but also, perhaps, judging them. Or is it just me projecting? Editor: No, I see it too. There's a real sense of immediacy, like he’s trying to hold onto a fading moment. But I can't help but wonder, why sketch them at all in such a moment? Curator: That's the million-dollar question, isn't it? Maybe it was an act of defiance, a refusal to let the revolution erase them completely. Or perhaps it was morbid fascination. Artists, after all, are often drawn to the fringes of human experience, aren't they? Did he intend to capture some form of truth? He doesn’t even appear to embellish anything here... Editor: True. Thinking about the cultural context adds another layer. I’m definitely leaving with a darker appreciation now, rather than just seeing simple pencil lines. Curator: Exactly! It's a brutal whisper from the past. So glad we unpacked that!