13. ‘Le Pardon de Bonchamp’ (1825) by David d’Angers [Pierre-Jean David] (1788-1856)

Commemorating an act of clemency: the monument honouring the Marquis de Bonchamp by David d'Angers in the abbey church of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil. Image credit: Wikipedia

This marble figure by the French sculptor David d’Angers, with its gesture of protest against bloodshed, commemorates a rare act of humanity in October 1793 during the brutal civil war which followed the French Revolution.  

Charles-Melchior Artus de Bonchamp, Marquis de Bonchamp, was a leader of the Royalist rebels nicknamed Les Chouans in the Vendée region of Western France who resisted Republican government forces after the execution of Louis XVI in Paris on 21 January 1793. A series of uprisings took place in the early 1790s, some of them inspired by loyalty to the Catholic Church in a region which was mainly rural. This was at a time when Paris revolutionaries aimed to sweep away religious traditions throughout France.   

Bonchamp led the counter-revolutionaries to success in some engagements but was mortally wounded at the Battle of Cholet. His last act was the pardoning of 5,000 Republican prisoners who had been shut in the church of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil and whom the Royalist troops intended to massacre in revenge for his death.

Following the restoration of the French monarchy after Waterloo fundraising efforts began with the intention of building a monument to Bonchamp with his statue as its centrepiece. The sculptor’s father, a Republican, had been one of the 5,000 prisoners who owed their lives to Bonchamp, and David d’Angers – born Pierre-Jean David – thus had a special interest in the project.

Marble statue from the West pediment of the Parthenon (West pediment A) in the British Museum. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

David d’Angers was one of the most important 19^th century French sculptors. Strongly influenced by neo-classical trends in art, he spent time in London studying sculptures in the British Museum. The pose of the Bonchamp figure has been compared to the  Parthenon Marbles’ sculpture possibly depicting the river god Ilissos.  

However his ability to reveal the individual’s energy in his sculpture, as in the Bonchamp figure, has placed him in the Romantic movement. An article in the London monthly journal The Art-Union of 1 August 1847 describes the sculpture as portraying  ‘a hero rather of the old times of chivalry and fabular daring’. The reviewer writes of ‘the head beseeching, the uplifted arm commanding; one of the most moving, most grandly-composed and finely draped figures of modern sculpture’.  

 

© 2000–2022 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

David often made preliminary sketches for his sculptures, and the above drawing with its tousled hair and strongly lined drapes shows how he transforms the languidly reclining figure of the river god of the Parthenon marbles into a more dramatic and energised creation.

Detail of David’s drawing showing his insertion of the Sacred Heart patch of the Vendéen Royalist insurgents. The French motto 'Dieu, le Roi' means 'God, the King'  Image credit:

On a fold of the drapes at the bottom right of the drawing, the sculptor took the trouble to reproduce the Sacred Heart image used as a badge by the Royalists. For an outspoken Republican and Freemason like David the action was significant. It surely represented his desire to evoke through the sculpture those passionate feelings of religious faith which had motivated the Chouans. In the case of Bonchamp, the raised hand stands as a symbol of Christian pacifism.

This copy of ‘Le Pardon de Bonchamp’ is part of the collection of the David d’Angers Museum in Angers. Image credit: Wikipedia

 

'La mort de Bonchamp’ by Christophe-Thomas Degeorge (1786-1854) in the Musée d'art Roger-Quilliot, Clermont-Ferrand. Image credit: Wikipedia

Heroic though David’s portrayal of Bonchamp may have been, the subject remained politically controversial in 19^th century France. Following David’s completion of the sculpture in the Restoration period, when Royalists returned to power in France, the neoclassical artist Christophe-Thomas Degeorge set to work on his painting ‘La Mort de Bonchamp’.  

But the rise of anticlericalism in France and the Revolution of 1830, resulting in the abdication of King Charles X, delayed completion of the project until 1837. Even then, during the constitutional monarchy of Louis-Philippe, political passions ran high.  

Degeorge offered the painting to be put on show at the Louvre, but it was refused by the Comte de Montalivet who was responsible for curating displays at the museum and feared that the subject might arose public anger. 

Later, Montalivet bought the painting and presented it officially to the town of Clermont-Ferrand, the artist’s birthplace.