Liberty caps and liberty trees
- Author
- Harden, J. David
- Document type
- Article (journal)
- Language
English
- Source
- Past & present. 1995, Num. 146, 66-102, 8 ill.
- ISSN
- 0031-2746
- Abstract (en)
- In tracing the genealogy of these symbols, the author wishes to suggest something about symbolic transmission across geographic distance, the translation of images between social levels, and the cultural frameworks that both limit and provide for the production and reception of successful representations. He states that: "According to the dossier assembled here, the liberty bonnet was resurrected - reclaimed from antiquity - by a learned tradition which began in Italy and the Low Countries, then migrated first to England and then to Colonial America, where it served as a centrepiece in the symbolism of revolution. The bonnet then returned to France in a variety of complementary and coincidental ways, not least a series of events associated with the painter Jacques-Louis David. In Paris, the liberty cap atop the pike became an important icon aimed against the fading tyranny of the ancien régime. In the countryside, when the pole was exchanged for a tree, the new pairing created perhaps the most effective symbol of republican power in the French provinces: the arbre de la liberté.
- Subject (en)
- Subject (fr)
- Origin
DatabaseBHA (Inist-CNRS/GRI)
Identifier19960401-00284879
Sauf mention contraire ci-dessus, le contenu de cette notice bibliographique peut être utilisé dans le cadre d'une licence CC BY 4.0 / Unless otherwise stated above, the content of this bibliographic record may be used under a CC BY 4.0 license
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DOI
10.1093/past/146.1.66 
https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/past/146.1.66
