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In revolutionary France the life of things could not be assured. War, shortage of materials, and frequent changes in political authority meant that few large-scale artworks or permanent monuments to the Revolution's memory were completed. On the contrary, visual practice in revolutionary France was characterized by the production and circulation of a range of transitional, provisional, ephemeral, and half-made images and objects, from printed paper money, passports, and almanacs to temporary festival installations and relics of the demolished Bastille. Addressing this mass of images conventionally ignored in art history, The Politics of the Provisional contends that they were at the heart of debates on the nature of political authenticity and historical memory during the French Revolution. Thinking about material durability, this book suggests, was one of the key ways in which revolutionaries conceptualized duration, and it was crucial to how they imagined the Revolution's transformative role in history. The Politics of the Provisional is the first book in the Art History Publication Initiative (AHPI), a collaborative grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Thanks to the AHPI grant, this book is available on a variety of popular e-book platforms.

In revolutionary France the life of things could not be assured. War, shortage of materials, and frequent changes in political authority meant that few large-scale artworks or permanent monuments to the Revolution's memory were completed. On the contrary, visual practice in revolutionary France was characterized by the production and circulation of a range of transitional, provisional, ephemeral, and half-made images and objects, from printed paper money, passports, and almanacs to temporary festival installations and relics of the demolished Bastille. Addressing this mass of images conventionally ignored in art history, The Politics of the Provisional contends that they were at the heart of debates on the nature of political authenticity and historical memory during the French Revolution. Thinking about material durability, this book suggests, was one of the key ways in which revolutionaries conceptualized duration, and it was crucial to how they imagined the Revolution's transformative role in history. The Politics of the Provisional is the first book in the Art History Publication Initiative (AHPI), a collaborative grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Thanks to the AHPI grant, this book is available on a variety of popular e-book platforms.

À la suite de la victoire de l’armée française à Fleurus le 26 juin 1794, un régime d’occupation est imposé en Belgique. Afin de maintenir l’ordre public et de réprimer les infractions aux arrêtés des représentants de la Convention, des comités de surveillance inspirés du modèle révolutionnaire français sont installés dans les principales villes du pays. Composés majoritairement de citoyens originaires des Pays-­Bas autrichiens acquis aux principes de la Révolution française, ces comités comptent également en leur sein quelques citoyens français. Leur tâche consiste à mener des enquêtes, sur base soit des dénonciations spontanées qui leur sont adressées soit des rapports des agents secrets qu’ils emploient. Véritable police politique, les comités de surveillance du Brabant fonctionnent peu de temps : installés en septembre 1794, ils sont supprimés en février 1795, au terme d’une existence controversée. Following the victory of the French Army at Fleurus on June 26?1794, a regime of occupation was imposed on Belgium. To maintain public order and repress violations of the arrêtés of the representatives on mission sent by the Convention, comités de surveillance based on the same institutional organization prevailing in Revolutionary France were installed in the principal towns of the country. Composed largely of citizens from the Austrian Netherlands who were animated by the ideals of the French Revolution, these comités also included some French citizens. Their task consisted of conducting inquiries inspired either from spontaneous denonciations that had been sent to them or from the reports of secret agents they employed. A veritable political police, the comités de surveillance of Brabant did not last long : installed in September 1794, they were suppressed in Februrary 1795, at the end of a controversial existance.

Au sein de sa très riche collection consacrée à la Révolution française, le musée Carnavalet conserve un ensemble de gouaches de Jean-Baptiste Lesueur qui est l’un de ses joyaux. Depuis la parution de notre catalogue raisonné, en 2005, le musée s’est enrichi de 11 nouvelles pièces, qui font l’objet de cet article, lequel constitue une sorte d’additif au catalogue. Elles se signalent toujours par l’intérêt documentaire des costumes, la forte présence du fait militaire, ainsi que celle du petit peuple parisien, et l’attention pleine de sympathie à l’égard des femmes. Mais en outre elles confirment la curiosité de leur auteur pour des faits, ou des personnages, peu connus et très rarement, voire jamais représentés dans l’iconographie du temps ; ce qui confirme, si cela était encore nécessaire, leur caractère de témoignage exceptionnel.

Cet article étudie l’hyperinflation (1791-1797), qui éviscéra le patrimoine de la plupart des familles, et un remède à celle-ci, aussi inattendu que controversé : l’« action en rescision pour lésion d’outre-moitié ». Pendant que l’assignat tombait en-dessous d’1 % de sa valeur nominale, des familles affolées vendirent boutiques, maisons ou domaines afin de survivre à la crise. Souvent, ces propriétés furent cédées bien en-dessous de leur valeur, conduisant les hommes de loi à ressusciter cette procédure ancrée dans la loi romaine. Elle accordait aux vendeurs le droit de demander à leurs acheteurs une réévaluation du montant de la vente. Des débats enflammés secouèrent la société française et remirent en question plusieurs milliers de ventes, notamment après la loi du 19 floréal an VI. Les 531 actions trouvées dans les archives des Yvelines témoignent de la férocité avec laquelle les vendeurs poursuivirent leurs acheteurs. Au-delà de ces poursuites judiciaires, c’est la notion même de contrat qui était en débat : sa légitimité procède-t-elle de l’accord des volontés ou d’une mesure de l’équité ? This article treats the hyperinflation (1791-1797), « which eviscerated most families’ patrimony, and a remedy, as unexpected as it was controversial, the l’action en rescision pour lésion d’outre-moitié ». While the assignat fell to less than one per cent of its nominal value, terrified families sold off shops, homes and farms to survive the crisis. Often, these properties were sold for less than half their value, causing lawyers to revive these suits with their roots in Roman law. The law allowed sellers to sue buyers for more money to « repair » the inadequate amount in the sales contract. The fiery debates of the legislators shook French society and threw many thousands of sales into question. The law of 19 floréal VI reopened these suits and sellers seized on the possibilities that this legislation offered them. The 531 suits found in the archives of the Yvelines department attest to the ferocity with which sellers pursued their buyers. Far beyond these legal proceedings, this form of civil suit lay at the crossroads of discussions that animated the world of eighteenth-century jurists and that targeted key elements of any legitimate contract: Was it the « meeting of minds » or equity that rendered a contract legitimate? These suits, then, illuminate not only the shocking upheaval of the hyperinflation, but also the polemics that accompanied the development of the modern contract.