Marie Antoinette Vorzeichnung 

Curator: Lovis Corinth created this work, “Marie Antoinette Vorzeichnung,” in pencil. The title itself indicates it’s a preliminary sketch, likely for a larger history painting. Editor: It definitely feels like a raw, urgent first take. The scene is teeming with figures, a kind of chaotic energy. Marie Antoinette seems to be held aloft in the midst of a frenzied crowd. Curator: Precisely. Corinth often engaged with historical subjects through a lens of critical realism, even sarcasm. Given the subject and his proclivities, the context is likely post-revolution, and the figures surround her aren’t adoring fans, that's for sure. Editor: The drums being banged loudly, almost desperately. I'm curious about her posture: it doesn't quite convey fear or distress but more a kind of aloof observation. What did Corinth intend by that visual motif? Curator: Ah, an excellent observation! Perhaps he intended to emphasize the detachment of the aristocracy, highlighting the chasm between the ruling class and the populace even during the turmoil of revolution. It seems, too, Corinth has drawn inspiration here from Honoré Daumier’s lithographs, which aimed at capturing revolutionary street life. Editor: And yet, her character maintains that aristocratic indifference, making this tableau quite unsettling. One recognizes the symbol, but I don’t find her pitiful or remorseful, instead defiant still—despite being at the mercy of the mob! The French flag in the background is hardly one of triumph; this vision of history makes it quite grim and, truthfully, ugly. Curator: Ugly indeed, which, in Corinth's case, might well have been intentional. History itself is not a sequence of beautifully designed propagandist compositions but something infinitely more tangled and, often, brutish. Editor: Seeing this scene has brought many associations to my mind. I may have to reconsider other revolutionary portrayals for a while now... Curator: So, perhaps Corinth achieves what any decent history painter should hope for. He doesn't present us with some kind of unchallengeable final version; rather, he stimulates our thinking about both history and its pictorial depiction!