Joseph-Noël Silvestre
"Robespierre Kissing His Wife's Corpse," 1893

The painting draws from a true story. In February 1793, Antoinette Gabrielle Danton died in childbirth. A week later, her husband returned to Paris, exhumed her coffin, opened it, covered her face with kisses, and begged her forgiveness for his infidelities. At that very moment, a death mask was taken from her face. The funeral bust made from it caused a scandal when exhibited—and today it remains preserved in the Troyes Museum.

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