Le Culte Naturel (The Natural Worship)

Prints and Drawings

1794

Jean-Baptist Mallet
French, 1759-1835

Jean Baptiste Mallet studied with Pierre-Paul Prud’hon and exhibited in Paris Salons between 1793 and 1827. This large-scale etching depicts a Republican baptism ceremony during the French Revolution. The revolutionary leader Robespierre promoted and mandated participation in the Cult of the Supreme Being, an alternative faith to both Catholicism and the atheistic Cult of Reason. Robespierre’s religious tenets appear in the background banners, reading from left to right: “Freedom of Worship,” “We believe in the existence of the supreme being and the immortality of the soul,” and “Adore God, cherish your fellow man, and render yourself useful to your homeland.”

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Jean Baptiste Mallet
Title: Le Culte Naturel (The Natural Worship)
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Printed 1789–1799
Medium: Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: Plate: 39.9 × 49.2 cm (15 3/4 × 19 3/8 in.); Sheet: 55.3 × 42.5 cm (21 13/16 × 16 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Reference Number: 2013.620
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/148611/manifest.json

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.