Guillaume Dominique Jacques Doncre, (Zeggercappel 1743-1820 Arras)

Portrait of a woman preparing shoe buckles

Portrait of a woman preparing shoe buckles
signed and dated 'D. doncre pinxit 1796' (on table, lower right)
oil on canvas
80.6 x 65.5cm

This unusual subject may well be a unique visual record of a significant episode in the history of the French Revolution involving citizens making the public gesture of giving up their valuable worldly goods to the greater glory of the new regime. The Assembly in Paris started a register of donors' names to encourage patriotic gifts of jewellery and silver or gold tableware. Shoe buckles – which until then had been a means of displaying personal wealth – became incriminating symbols of the old regime and many were sent to the Assembly to raise funds for the cause. The loose shoe buckles required some preparation, and in this painting the sitter has been sewing pairs of silver buckles onto playing cards. Around this time, billets de confiance (promissory notes issued in advance of assignats, the new revolutionary paper money) were often printed on playing cards, so their presence in this work may represent more than just a support for the buckles.