Marianne
National personification of the French Republic since the Revolution.
Last updated
Official government documents display Marianne's profile, and her statues are prominently featured in town halls and law courts.[1]
Quick Facts
- Field
- National personification
- Nationality
- French
- Known for
- Symbol of the French Republic
- liberty
- and democracy
- Associated symbols
- Phrygian cap
- cockade
- tricolor flag
- motto Liberté
- Égalité
- Fraternité
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
The name came from Marie-Anne, a very popular first name at the time, chosen to designate a regime that saw itself as popular.[2] The figure officially became a symbol of the French Republic in 1848 after the fall of the monarchy.[3] During the Third Republic (1870–1940), her usage became more official as a unifying national symbol.[4] Since September 1999, Marianne has been combined with blue-white-red and Liberté-Égalité-Fraternité in a government identifier.[5]
Allegorical figures of 'Liberty' and 'Reason' appeared during the 1789 French Revolution, and these two personifications eventually combined into a single female figure, who was often shown with a Phrygian cap and the cockade of France.[6] A medal struck in July 1789, commemorating the storming of the Bastille, marked the first significant public appearance of Marianne.[7]
What the cited sources add
Historian Mathilde Larrere tweeted that images of Marianne with a naked breast harked back to classical allusions.[3] The Marianne on French stamps website states that the revolutionaries adopted the name Marianne to symbolise the change of regime and incarnated the symbol of "the mother country".[8] The Guardian noted that the implication that bare breasts were emblematic of France while the Muslim headscarf was problematic provoked scorn from politicians and derision from historians.[3] The BBC reported that in July 2013, a new stamp featured a Marianne whose design was inspired by Femen activist Inna Shevchenko.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Marianne" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Marianne on French stamps (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Marianne" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Agulhon 1981 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Chrisafis, "French PM suggests naked breasts represent France better than a headscarf", The Guardian, 30 August 2016. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- Wikipedia, "Marianne" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hobsbawm Ranger 1983, p. 272; Hobsbawm Ranger 1983, p. 272; Hobsbawm Ranger 1983, p. 272; Hobsbawm Ranger 1983, p. 272 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Marianne" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Service d'Information du Gouvernement, "Charte Graphique de la Communication Gouvernementale", 24 September 1999 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Marianne" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Compare the Statue of Liberty, created as Liberty Enlightening the World by French artist Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, with a copy in both Paris and Saint-Étienn (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Marianne" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hunt 1984, p. 62 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Marianne on French stamps. facts only, no text reused. abelard.org
- "FEMEN's Inna Shevchenko inspired France's Marianne stamp", BBC, 15 July 2013. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Marianne (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Mythological & Legendary Figures
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Marianne (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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