LANEUVILLE, Jean-Louis
(b. 1748, Paris, d. 1826, Paris)

Portrait of Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac

1793-94
Oil on canvas, 130 x 97 cm
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac (1755-1841) was a French politician and journalist, one of the most notorious members of the National Convention during the French Revolution. Traditionally the Barère portrait is deemed to show the politician standing before the Tribunal of the Convention on 4 January 1793, demanding the death of Louis XVI; Laneuville, however, confused both the date of the King's trial and the correspondence between the Gregorian and Revolutionary calendars, showing Barère resting his right hand on a sheet of paper dated 4 January 1792, Year II.