Presenté et dedié a la convention National l'an 2 de la Republique

The little-known Parisian printmaker A. Duplessis specialized in allegorical representations of events surrounding the French Revolution. This large sheet celebrates the 1793 constitution, which was based on the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, with additions including the abolition of slavery and the right of rebellion. Delicate roulette shading contrasts the architectural space occupied by the National Convention with the outside crowds. The burnished beam of light issuing from the cloud at upper right may illuminate Maximilien de Robespierre, the French statesman who advocated for the secularization of the state and led the Reign of Terror.