View of the Bastille before its destruction in July 1789
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This striking copperplate engraving captures the infamous Bastille fortress just before it was torn down in July 1789 during the early days of the French Revolution. The mobs of Paris are omitted in favor of well-dressed aristocrats in an idyllic scene that presents a stately castle, rather than a torturous prison. The image was engraved by Eastgate (named, lower right). Published in Percival Barlow’s A General History of Europe around 1790, very shortly after the Bastille’s destruction. Example at the British Library:
