Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)
A hand-coloured etching in five scenes shows ragged, red-capped sans-culottes forcing loaves down the throats of John Bull at centre and of Holland, Savoy, Germany and Prussia, and Italy, in some scenes while robbing them. The tell is the staging: the offered 'Bread of Liberty' arrives at bayonet and pistol point, casting French revolutionary liberty as coerced conquest and Britain as the next to be fed.
- Date
- January 12, 1793
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- James Gillray (artist), published by Hannah Humphrey, London
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- Kingdom of Great Britain
- Medium
- Issuer type
- Individual
- Regime
- Pitt Government
- Leader
- William Pitt the Younger
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Elections and party politics
- Event
- French Revolutionary Wars
- Techniques
- Fear appealName-calling
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Rijksmuseum, retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (published 1793, before 1931; Rijksmuseum marks the image Public Domain Mark 1.0, metadata CC0)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, object RP-P-1908-5715 (James Gillray, 1793)
Text on the object
Holland. River Scheldt Savoy. Vive la Liberta [on a banner] Germany & Prussia John Bull Italy. Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty Pubd Jan.y 12th 1793 by H. Humphrey No 18 Old Bond Street
The imprint line is small and partly abbreviated; the reading 'Pubd Jan.y 12th 1793' follows the Rijksmuseum transcription 'Pub. Jan 12 1793 by H. Humphrey No. 18 Old Bond Street'. Small inscriptions on the loaves and the letter S on the strongbox in the Savoy scene were not read.
