The massacre of Huguenots in a barn at Wassy: men and women are shot by soldiers, slaughtered with swords or forced to jump off the roof. Lithograph by N. Rolin, 1843, after J. Perrissin, ca. 1570.

  • Perrissin, J. (Jean), 1536?-1611?
Date:
[1843]
Reference:
2897079i
  • Pictures

About this work

Description

The edict of Saint-Germain in 1562, which proclaimed toleration of the adherents of the "Reformed religion" (Huguenots) in France, was followed by fierce persecution by the Catholics, resulting in massacres of Huguenots in the towns of Orleans, Tours, and (the event shown in this woodcut) Wassy (Vassy), in the Haute-Marne. François de Lorraine, Duc de Guise and Prince de Joinville, was the leader of the Catholics. The Protestants were meeting in a barn inside the city, whereas they were only authorised to gather outside the city. The ensuing massacre of the Huguenots in the barn is the subject of this print. The interior of the barn is shown in a cutaway view. The Duc de Guise is in the centre, with sword, while his brother, the cardinal de Guise (presumably Charles, 1525-1574, rather than Louis, 1527-1578) watches from behind a wall on the left. At the entrance to the barn, soldiers are robbing the poor box that is fixed to the door. Right, one of the Huguenots escapes by jumping over the city wall and out to the fields: he represents the eye-witnesses who described the event to the artists

Publication/Creation

Bar [Bar-le-Duc] : Lith. Numa Rolin, [1843]

Physical description

1 print : lithograph ; image 31.3 x 49 cm

Lettering

Le massacre fait à Vassy, le premier jour de Mars 1562. Lith. Numa Rolin, à Bar. Exactement dessiné sur pierre d'après une ancienne gravure faite en 1562 Bears monogram, bottom right: LS A key (A-K) identifies the actions and persons

Creator/production credits

To record some of the atrocities committed in the French wars of religion that started in 1562, two Lyons artists, Jean Perrissin and Jacques Tortorel, depicted them in prints based on the testimony of eye-witnesses, and published the collection at Geneva, the centre of French-speaking Protestantism, in 1570. The series was entitled Quarante tableaux, ou Histoires diverses qui sont mémorables touchant les guerres, massacres, et troubles advenus en France en ces dernières années. Le tout recueilly selon le témoignage de ceux qui ont esté en personne, & qui les ont veues, lesquels sont pourtraits à la vérité. The present print is a lithograph by Numa Rolin copying one of the prints in that series

References note

Bibliographie de la France, 9 December 1843, no. 1751 ("Le massacre fait à Vassy, le premier jour de mars 1562. A Bar, chez {Numa Rolin}, lith.")

Reference

Wellcome Collection 2897079i

Type/Technique

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