After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war parisian insurgents took power in the post war chaos. The so-called 'Paris Commune' lasted from March 18 to May 28, 1871.
The french government abolished the commune. Around 18.000 parisians were killed by government soldiers during bloody week
A lot of the the french communards were executed.
The psychiatric patient in the previous article actually depicted such an execution in the top-right hand corner of the Charbonnier photograph. In his drawing he adds an executioner to the already coffined communards. So the drawing must have been based on these two photographs. Ironically, with the photographic process of 1871 it was important to have your subjects to sit motionless.
The french commune and its bloody suppression took root in the collective memory of the sane and the insane alike.
photographs: probably André Adolphe Eugène Disderi
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