National Almanach for 1791, dedicated to the Friends of the Constitution, 1790 (colour aquatint) (see...

Almanach National Dedié aux Amis de la Constitution: under a medallion depicting Louis XVI, the top half of this Almanach depicts Minerva, goddess of wisdom, drafting the new French Constitution; the lower half has an empty space intended for the insertion of the calendar for 1791; the intense interest and excitement in Paris aroused by the projected constitutional reforms during the early stages of the French Revolution was fuelled by the production of political pamphlets which were purchased in large quantities by Parisians from street vendors (vendeuses de libelles) such as the one illustrated here on the left; on the right the group of men fraternising and embracing, including a Turk in Ottoman dress and hat, are symbolic of the utopian ideals of universal friendship of the revolutionaries;