#goujon

[detournementsmineurs]

Toujours aussi joliment restaurée, la “Fontaine des Innocents” de l'architecte Pierre Lescot et du sculpteur Jean Goujon (1549) dans le quartier des Halles à Paris, avril 2026.

[secondjulia]

Since I'm thinking about it for some reason, another stunning contrast, from one of the best French Revolution books, an excerpt about the Prairial Martyr Goujon, who was cut down almost as young as Saint-Just for supporting the people in the revolt of 1 Prairial, & his friend Tissot, who was in the galleries and escaped prosecution; he didn't make it quite as far into the 19th century as Élisabeth Le Bas, but wasn't that far behind

From A New World Begins by Jeremy D. Popkin, Epilogue (@ 21:48:00 in the audiobook):

"...one story that has particularly intrigued me is that of Jean Marie Goujon, the Prairial martyr whose name has appeared often in this book, and his friend Pierre François Tissot, who survived him by more than half a century. Their letters and writings helped me understand the enthusiasm that powered the Revolution. As an apostle of liberty and equality, Goujon tried to reach out to the common people and inspire them. In the critical years of the Revolution, he went beyond preaching and devoted himself to the urgent matter of making sure the population had food to eat. He was fortunate in that he did not join the National Convention until after the bloody purges of the Girondins, the Hébertists, and the Indulgents; and he was absent from Paris on 9 Thermidor Year II, July 27, 1794, which spared him from having to take sides for or against Robespierre.

There is every reason to believe that as he and his fellow defendants argued at their trial after the Prairial uprising, he supported some of the crowds demands in a sincere effort to prevent blood shed and preserve some of the Convention's authority. A casualty of the passions of the Revolution, Goujon was just 29 when he died. Contrasting his life with that his friend Tissot, who did so much to preserve Gujon's memory, is a thought-provoking exercise.

The two were both seized by emotion of the Festival of Federation in 1790. At the same time that Goujon married in 1793 in a Republican ceremony, Tissot married his friend's sister. Tissot lacked Goujon's charisma and speaking ability, but as Goujon's political career took off, Goujon was able to employ Tissot in various administrative posts. On the fateful day of 1 Prairial Year III, May 20th, 1795, while Goujon was at his post at the Convention, Tissot was in the gallery with the demonstrators where he successfully avoided arrest.

For some years after Gujon's execution, Tissot remained involved with the radical left. He participated in the Babeuf Conspiracy and under the Consulate, was on the list of former Montagnards scheduled for deportation after the December 1800 assassination attempt against Napoleon. Some of his friends, however, convinced the First Council to spare him.

After 1800, Tissot abandoned his radicalism. To support not only his own family but also Gujon's widow and  his younger brothers, he went into business, opening a factory to make lanterns in Paris's Faubourg Saint-Antoine. As a manufacturer, he made his small contribution to the movement of technological progress, a  movement that would eventually allow the world to escape from the poverty that had made the ideals of the French Revolution so hard to realize in the 1790s. Tissot also embarked on a literary career, obtaining a reputation for his translations of Latin poetry. Gradually he embraced Napoleon's regime. He was rewarded with a teaching post at the Collège de France in 1813, shortly before the Empire fell. Under the Bourbon Restoration, he was active in the moderate liberal opposition. And when that regime was overthrown in 1830, he reached the pinnacle of glory by being elected to the Academé Française, French Academy.

Author of one of the first histories of the French Revolution, Tissot lived long enough to become one of the few participants in the movement of 1789 who was still alive to witness the proclamation of France's Second Republic in 1848.

Two young men seized with the spirit of liberty in 1789. Two young men who followed the revolutionary movement's shift toward ever more radical positions until 1794. Two men who kept the republican faith even after Robespierre's overthrow and whose destinies diverged only because one spoke up at the Convention during the Prairial Uprising and the other escaped unnoticed.

Which of the two best epitomizes the true meaning of the Revolution? Goujon who sacrificed his life rather than abandon the ideals he had embraced? Or Tissot, who eventually accommodated himself to the sober realities of life after 1800? Without idealists like Goujon, the Revolution never would have imprinted itself on the minds of its contemporaries and of posterity. Without pragmatists like Tissot, its principles might have been completely repudiated.

Through the stories of Goujon and Tissot, we can perhaps come to some understanding of the complexities of the Revolution's impact on the lives of those who experienced it and the ways in which its legacy was perpetuated."

[detournementsmineurs]

"Hommage à Jean Goujon : Buste de la Nymphe du Centre" bronze patiné recouvert de feuille d'or d'Alfred Janniot pour l'"Hôtel du Collectionneur" de Pierre Patout et Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann à l'Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes de Paris (1925) à l'exposition "Paris 1925 : l'Art Déco et ses Architectes" à la Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris, France, mars 2026.

[detournementsmineurs]

"Nymphe Portant son Vase sur la Hanche" x2, "Nymphe Portant son Vase à l'Epaule" x2 et "Nymphe Portant à la Rame" bas-reliefs en pierre calcaire de Jean Goujon (1548-49) dans les collections permanentes du Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, février 2026.

[secondjulia]

Prairial Martyr Goujon

(of the previously stated complicated feelings) He was almost as young as Saint-Just, but he got a little extra time.

[secondjulia]

"The unlimited freedom of the grain trade is incompatible with the existence of our Republic. And indeed, what constitutes a Republic? A small number of capitalists and a large number of poor… This class of capitalists and landlords, the unlimited freedom that makes mistress of grain prices, is also mistress of the establishment of the working day."

Anyone want to join me in having complicated feelings, this time about Jean-Marie Claude Alexandre Goujon?

A New World Begins ended with a whole section about him & his buddy Tissot & sent me on a confused sojourn through Wikipedia.

Goujon was on mission on 9 Thermidor, but sent a letter congratulating the Convention on the fall of Robespierre. (Boooo)

But he also pushed back on the Thermidorians' reactionary bullshit, & when the people invaded the Convention in the Prairial insurrection (because they were literally starving — see previous comments from The Gilded Youth of Thermidor), he was one of the few representatives to support them and try to get the Convention to institute concrete changes. As a result, he was arrested & sentenced to death, but committed suicide before he could be guillotined.

He also seems to have made some good points, like the quote at the top, & tried to make concrete progress toward helping the common people.

Admittedly, the Maximum, when it was instituted, doesn't seem to have worked particularly well. But, especially after reading about the absolute disaster that was the lack of regulations & the Thermidorians' pullback on any meaningful progress for really helping the average person, I feel so much regret about how these seeds of good ideas were squashed. It's similar to how I feel about some of Saint-Just's ideas — maybe some were utopian or even entirely unworkable, and none were perfect, but at least they came from a core of worthy values because they were trying things to make life better for the average person.

Editing to add that the Revolt of Prairial page seems to have some problems because it says Prieur de la Marne was executed but his page says he lived till 1827? So I don't know if I'm misreading something or maybe he's been mixed up with someone else. Anyway, the rest of it seems to accord with the descriptions in A New World Begins & The Gilded Youth of Thermidor.

[vendemiairism]

My birthday is coming up, but unfortunately that means that the death of the Prairial martyrs is also coming up because I know that my birthday is the day before their death anniversary.

[tierseta]

Happy Birthday Goujon!!!