During the French Revolution, art played a substantial role in stimulating the Revolution as well as fanning the revolutionary flames. The iconography of Charlotte Corday and Marie Antoinette, two of French history’s most influential women, exemplifies both the public perception of the two women, but more importantly, their iconography through the past two centuries shines a light upon the social and political beliefs and values of French society. While Marie Antoinette’s iconography was ultimately used to aide in her downfall, Charlotte Corday’s iconography was widely circulated after her death and had no direct consequences for the woman. The iconography of both women, however, shares a common thread; the iconography of both women was depersonalized and used to further political objectives.

Art also played a substantial role in stimulating the French Revolution. The iconography of Charlotte Corday and Marie Antoinette, two of French history’s most influential women, exemplifies both the public perception of the two women, but more importantly, their iconography through the past two centuries shines a light upon the social and political beliefs and values of French society. While Marie Antoinette’s iconography was ultimately used to aide in her downfall, Charlotte Corday’s iconography was widely circulated after her death and had no direct consequences for the woman. The iconography of both women, however, shares a common thread; the iconography of both women was used to further political objectives.

During the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette was the subject of much public pornography and propaganda. This pornography included a multitude of sketches and drawings depicting the Queen engaging in lascivious or lewd acts. While at the beginning of her reign, Marie was represented as a divine monarch, her public representation soon plummeted. The widely circulated pornography acted as propaganda against the queen and the ancien régime. Her public iconography, most prolific during her life, became a source of propaganda against her and the "corrupt" ancien régime.

In the early years of Marie Antoinette’s reign, she was the subject of many portraits which represented her as the angelic and divine queen of France. These representations, while accepted by the French masses until the mid 1770’s, were soon shattered as the French Revolution gained momentum. In Jean-Baptiste-André Gautier-Dagoty’s painting Marie Antoinette de Lorraine-Habsbourg , Marie Antoinette is represented as a divine monarch leading a country of wealth and prominence. Her right hand is resting upon a globe, a strong representation of French influence and power. This portrait, painted in 1775, represents the official image of Marie Antoinette, as the court wanted her to be seen. This grandeur and pomp recognizes the Queen’s superiority over the common French citizen. The portrait challenged Marie Antoinette to take the role as the powerful and divine queen of France, a challenge to which she failed to achieve.

As discontent permeated France, Marie Antoinette’s iconography changed from a positive image to a negative one. Marie Antoinette became the icon for the ills of the ancien régime, and her iconography became propaganda for the Revolution. In a print from the pornographic satire, Essai Historique sur la Vie de Marie-Antoinette , Marie Antoinette is represented as a lascivious and adulterous queen. This sketch exemplifies the propaganda widely circulated in the 1780’s and 1790’s. This propaganda was intended to gain support for the Revolutionary cause by destroying Marie Antoinette’s reputation. While courtly liaisons and royal affairs were historically accepted in France, they had never been exposed on such a wide scale. Mass quantities of pornography circulated France, gaining support for the revolution and breeding hatred for the Queen.

Marie Antoinette was targeted in pornography, but she was also represented in many sketches as a powerful and cunning demon who had corrupted the French monarchy and the ancien régime. Circulated in 1791, the sketch of Marie Antoinette as a harpy exposes her as the true evil behind the French throne. Shown with "The Rights of Man" clutched between her claws, Antoinette is represented as a vicious demon threatening the Revolution and the liberty of man. In this sketch, Marie Antoinette takes on a powerful image as a predator about to devour the liberty and equality that the participants of the Revolution of 1789 saw as their inalienable rights.

The massive amounts of pornography circulating France in the late 1780’s aided in the discontent of the French Third Estate and helped galvanize France behind the Revolution. Marie Antoinette was removed from Versailles and stripped of her title, her finery, and her royalty. Although she had been stripped of her material power, French Revolutionaries were still weary that she would retain divine and royal attributes. If the Queen were not lowered to the station of a peasant, Marie Antoinette, without any power, could not pose a threat to the Revolutionaries. To quell the uneasiness in France at the prospect of the execution of the Queen, a series of sketches were circulated throughout France representing Marie Antoinette as a peasant without any remnants of royalty.

In David’s sketch, Marie Antoinette on the Tumbril, Marie is shown as a lowly peasant. She is displayed as a mere commoner; her royalty has been stripped away leaving her common and vulnerable. The French public would not dare kill a divine queen but were able to kill a common woman who threatened their independence. Marie Antoinette’s previous status as the divine queen of France had been shattered forever. The pornography and propaganda had succeeded in ruining the Queen’s reputation and had succeeded in contributing to a mass hysteria which culminated in her execution at the hands of her subjects.

While Antoinette’s iconography during the Revolution helped exacerbate it, the iconography of Charlotte Corday was used to show support for moderates or radicals. The propaganda circulated in France was directly targeted at the Queen and the masses. This iconography had a direct influence on Marie Antoinette and her life. This relationship, between Antoinette and her representation, differed from Corday’s relationship with her artistic representation. Most of the important artistic works including Charlotte Corday were done after her death, and thus, had no effect on Corday’s life. Both women, however, were icons of the French Revolution, and, while Marie Antoinette became an icon of the corrupt French throne, Corday represented a moderate triumphing over a radical.

In Paul Baudry’s painting entitled Charlotte Corday, Corday is depicted as a pensive and quiet woman, who assassinates Marat for the good of the country. She blends into the background map of France and is thus shown as a symbol of the country. Painted in 1858, this painting represents the view of France in the second empire. Because France in 1858 was an empire (under Napoleon III), Charlotte Corday, a martyr to conservatives, is represented as a patriot. As the political state of France changed, so did the representations of Charlotte Corday.

J. J. Wiertz’s painting entitled, The Assassination of Marat By Charlotte Corday, shows his view that Corday was a vicious murderess who killed a great Revolutionary leader. In the doorway of Marat’s house, a member from every division of the Third Estate is reaching for Corday. A peasant woman, a soldier, a sans-culotte, and a bourgeois man are all angry and upset with Corday’s act. The painter is trying to show the Third Estate’s opposition to the assassination of Marat, as Corday is reduced to the status of a terrible murderess. This painting was painted in 1880, when France was a republic. This painting represents The Third Republic’s desire to distance itself from the Second Empire of Napoleon III, defeated by Prussia in 1870.

Pablo Picasso’s painting, La Femme au stylet, painted in 1930, represents Charlotte Corday as a violent monster preying upon the helpless Marat. She floats above him like an evil spirit, and as she stabs him, blood streams from his chest. This representation shows Picasso’s criticism for Corday and Marat’s murder. Unlike the other two paintings of Corday discussed above, Picasso shows Corday not as a woman but as a screaming demon. Pablo Picasso, a communist, believed Charlotte Corday to be a symbol of a capitalist system repressing the common man.

A final representation of Charlotte Corday is found in Jacques-Louis David’s Marat Assassinated . Painted in the days following Marat’s murder, this painting represents Marat as a Jesus-like figure. His kind, saintly face and body seem to be "blessed" as if from a heavenly source and glow as if from divine light. In his left hand, Marat still holds Corday’s letter to him, ironically stating, "It is enough that I am unhappy to have the right to your benevolence." Corday’s name is written at the top of the letter, clear enough to be read, and thus, Charlotte Corday, though not physically represented, is still presented as the murderess of a saint. This representation was widely spread in the months following Marat’s death, as Marat became an icon and martyr for the revolutionary cause. Corday’s representation, in absentia, is more horrible than any possible painted image. By excluding her from the painting, David allows the viewer to create his own image of Corday and leaves her representation to only the limits of the audience’s imagination.

Both Marie Antoinette and Charlotte Corday are important revolutionary icons who helped further unrest in the nation. While Marie Antoinette’s public representation contributed to the revolutionary cause in France and eventually led to her execution, Corday’s iconography was proliferated mainly after her death and represented the dispute between radicals and moderates. Despite these differences, Marie Antoinette’s and Charlotte Corday’s representations are an integral part of a study of the French Revolution and public opinion in France. A queen's portrayal as both a whore and a glorious monarch and a noble woman's representation as both a cold-blooded murderer and a martyr were used to further La Revolution Française.

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