Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise)

ca. 1835

François Rude French, 1784-1855

On View

Era of Revolution, Level 3, South Wing

Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise)

Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise): 1 of Collection Gallery

Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise): 2 of Collection Gallery

Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise): 3 of Collection Gallery

Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise): 4 of Collection Gallery

Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise): 5 of Collection Gallery

Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise): 6 of Collection Gallery

Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise): 7 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

This original plaster relief, Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (also known as The Marseillaise, the famous rousing rallying song Rouget de l'Isle composed for this event and which remains the French national anthem), depicts one of the most familiar and renowned subjects in French nineteenth-century sculpture. The great sculptor Francois Rude received a commission for an enormous relief - twelve meters high - from the government of King Louis-Philippe for placement on the monumental Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. The subject commemorates the moment in 1792 when France's first citizen army rose up in unison against the threatened invasion of the Prussian and Austrian coalition, which sought to reverse the French Revolution and restore the deposed Louis XVI. King Louis-Philippe's commission of Rude's sculpture in 1833 significantly places his celebration of the French Revolution over his own successful but unpopular July Monarchy Revolution of 1830.

Rude's original maquette (or preparatory model) closely compares in its one-meter height and animated energetic modeling to related plaster models by his contemporaries Antoine Etex and Jean-Pierre Cortot for reliefs on the same monument (Paris, musee des Arts Decoratifs).

Title Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise)

Artwork Date ca. 1835

Artist François Rude

Life Dates 1784-1855

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Original plaster model

Dimensions Unframed: 42 × 24 1/2 × 7 inches (106.7 × 62.2 × 17.8 cm) Framed: 51 1/2 × 36 1/2 × 7 inches (130.8 × 92.7 × 17.8 cm) Including base (depth including bracket mount): 10 1/2 inches (26.7 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2001.67

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Provenance

2001-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Darr, A. P. "Two newly acquired sculptures by Rude and Rodin in the Detroit Institute of Arts." In La Sculpture en Occident: Etudes offertes à Jean-René Gaborit, ed. G. Bresc-Bautier et al. Paris, 2007, pp. 272-83.

Darr, A. P., B. Gallagher. "Recent acquisitions (2000-2006) of European sculpture and decorative arts at The Detroit Institute of Arts." The Burlington Magazine 149 (June 2007): p. 453, (pl. 13), (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA 89, no. 1/4 (2015): pp. 14-15 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

This work is in the public domain.

François Rude, Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (The Marseillaise), ca. 1835, original plaster model. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Fund, 2001.67.