Sunday 9 June 2013

A Family of Swine



The royal family - portrayed as pigs - is being taken back to the barn. The pamphlet was made after the family made its failed attempt to flee to Varennes. The two at the front of the wagon is Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, behind them are Madame Royale and the Dauphin - it is worth noticing that the Dauphin was the only one who was not insulted in the texts that circulated this cartoon; he was considered to be "a young shoot on a rotten tree". But the rest of the family did not escape so easily.

Louis XVI is described as being stupid and shy and that "nature was sorry to have created [him]"
Marie Antoinette receives the most trashing (as usual) and even her mother, Maria Theresia, is described as having had unnatural relationships with animals such as tigers and bears which resulted in Marie Antoinette. The French Queen herself is both ugly, worn-out and hideous - besides this she "eats France's money in the hope of one day devouring the French, one by one".
The young Madame Royale was only twelve years old when this happened but her young age does not spare  her in the humiliation. It is thought that she already has her mother's vices and is born to "suck the blood of slaves [!]".
The last one is Madame Elisabeth (the back of the wagon with the hat) is labelled as an "evil slut" who is "as nasty as she once was pretty".

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