Marianne busts with features of
Brigitte Bardot - Catherine Deneuve - Mireille Mathieu

Marianne, a national emblem of France, is a personification of Liberty and Reason. She is present in many places in France and holds a place of honor in town halls and law courts. She symbolizes the "Triumph of the Republic", a bronze sculpture overlooking the Place de la République in Paris. Her profile stands out on the official seal of the country, is engraved on French euro coins, and appears on French postage stamps; it also was featured on the former French franc coins and banknotes. Marianne is considered one of the most prominent symbols of the French Republic. Mariannes - see copyright notice at Talk:Marianne This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Mariannes - see copyright notice at Talk:Marianne This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Bardot (born September 28, 1934 in Paris to Charles Pilou Bardot and Anne-Marie Mucel) is a French actress and model, daughter of an industrialist. ... Catherine Deneuve at Cannes in 2000 Catherine Deneuve (born October 22, 1943) is a French actress, born in Paris, France. ... Mireille Mathieu (album) Mireille Mathieu (born July 22, 1946) is a French singer. ... A national emblem symbolically represents a nation. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... ... Reason is a term used in philosophy and other human sciences to refer to the higher cognitive faculties of the human mind. ... City Hall is a 1996 film directed by Harold Becker. ... This article is about courts of law. ... Assorted ancient bronze castings found as part of a cache, probably intended for recycling. ... A sculpture is a three-dimensional, man-made object selected for special recognition as art. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... French euro coins feature three separate designs for the three series of coins. ... This 1974 stamp from Japan depicts a Class 8620 steam locomotive. ... French Franc. ...

The origins of this woman, depicted by artist Honoré Daumier as a mother nursing two children, or by sculptor François Rude as an angry warrior voicing the Marseillaise on the Arc de Triomphe, are uncertain. In any case, she has become a symbol in France: considered as a personification of the Republic, she was often used on pro-Republican iconography — and heavily caricatured and reviled by anti-Republicans. Honoré Daumier (portrait by Nadar) Honoré Daumier (1808 – 1879) was a French caricaturist and painter. ... François Rude: 1888 engraving François Rude (June 4, 1784 - November 3, 1855) was a French sculptor. ... This article is about the anthem La Marseillaise. A sculpture popularly called La Marseillaise is part of the sculptural programme of the Arc de Triomphe. ... Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris that stands in the centre of the Place de lÉtoile, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. ...

Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1241x1022, 171 KB)An exact copy of this image is at the Commons under: Image:Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1241x1022, 171 KB)An exact copy of this image is at the Commons under: Image:Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple. ... Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix, created on July 28, 1830. ... Eugène Delacroix (portrait by Nadar) Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798 - August 13, 1863) was an important painter from the French romantic period. ...

History

In classical times it was common to represent ideas and abstract entities by gods, goddesses and allegorical personifications. Less common during the Middle Ages, this practice resurfaced during the Renaissance. During the French Revolution, many allegorical personifications of 'Liberty' and 'Reason' appeared. These two figures finally merged into one: a female figure, shown either sitting or standing, and accompanied by various attributes, including the rooster, the tricolor cockade, and the Phrygian cap. This woman typically symbolized Liberty, Reason, the Nation, the Homeland, the civic virtues of the Republic. (Compare the Statue of Liberty, created by a French artist, with a copy in Paris.) David McCarthy of Lower Columbia College says that An allegory (from Greek αλλος, allos, other, and αγορευειν, agoreuein, to speak in public) is a figurative mode of representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the cularly important case is the Song of Songs, which was accepted as canonical only... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... By region Italian Renaissance Spanish Renaissance Northern Renaissance English Renaissance French Renaissance German Renaissance Polish Renaissance The Renaissance, also known as Il Rinascimento (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution, religious reform and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a period in the history of France. ... ... Reason is a term used in philosophy and other human sciences to refer to the higher cognitive faculties of the human mind. ... This article concerns biological roosters. ... The Phrygian cap or Liberty cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, worn by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia in antiquity. ... Statue of Liberty Liberty Enlightening the World, known more commonly as the Statue of Liberty, is a statue given to the United States by France in the late 19th century, standing at Liberty Island in the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor as a welcome to all...

French postage stamp

In September 1792, the National Convention decided by decree that the new seal of the state would represent a standing woman holding a spear with a Phrygian cap held aloft on top of it. Marianne stamp - see copyright notice at Talk:Marianne This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... This article is about a legislative body and constitutional convention during the French Revolution. ...

Why is it a woman and not a man who represents the Republic? One could find the answer to this question in the traditions and mentality of the French, suggests the historian Maurice Agulhon, who in several well-known works set out on a detailed investigation to discover the origins of Marianne. A feminine allegory was also a manner to symbolise the breaking with the monarchical regime headed by men. Note also that liberté, égalité, fraternité, république and France are feminine words in French, and that, even before the French Revolution, France or the Kingdom of France were embodied in feminine figures, as depicted in certain ceilings of Palace of Versailles. In linguistics, noun classes, also called grammatical gender is a type of inflection. ... Versailles: Louis Le Vau opened up the interior court to create the expansive entrance cour dhonneur, later copied all over Europe Monument of Louis XIV in the cour dhonneur The Château de Versailles —or simply Versailles— is a royal château, outside the gates of which the...

The use of this emblem was initially unofficial and very diverse. Marianne/Liberty makes an appearance in Eugène Delacroix's bravura political propaganda Liberty Leading the People (Louvre Museum), painted in July 1830, before the first rush of enthusiasm for Louis Philippe had time to cool. In 1848, the Ministry of the Interior launched a contest to symbolize the Republic. After the fall of the monarchy, the Provisional Government had declared: "The image of liberty should replace everywhere the images of corruption and shame, which have been broken in three days by the magnanimous French people." Two "Mariannes" were authorised: the one is fighting and victorious, recalling the Greek goddess Athena; the other is wise and serious. She made her first appearance on a French postage stamp in 1849. Later, during the Second Empire (1852-1870), this depiction was clandestine and served as a symbol of protest against the regime. The common use of the name "Marianne" for the depiction of the "Liberty" started around 1848/1851, becoming generalized throughout France around 1875. The usage began to be more official during the Third Republic (1870-1940). The city hall of Paris displayed a statue of "Marianne" wearing a Phrygian cap in 1880, and was quickly followed by the other French cities. Eugène Delacroix (portrait by Nadar) Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798 - August 13, 1863) was an important painter from the French romantic period. ... Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix, created on July 28, 1830. ... The main courtyard of the Louvre. ... Louis-Philippe of France (October 6, 1773–August 26, 1850), served as the Orleanist king of the French from 1830 to 1848. ... Athena from the east pediment of the Afea temple in Aegina After a sculpture of Athena at the Louvre. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... A map of France under the Third Republic, featuring colonies. ...

Although both are common emblems of France, neither Marianne nor the rooster enjoys official status: the flag of France, as named and described in Article 2 of the French constitution, is the only official emblem. This article concerns biological roosters. ... Flag Ratio: 2:3 The national flag of France (Vexillological symbol: , known in French as drapeau tricolore, drapeau bleu-blanc-rouge, drapeau français, rarely, le tricolore and, in military parlance, les couleurs) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (hoist side), white, and red. ... The current Constitution of France was adopted on October 4, 1958, and has been amended 17 times, most recently on March 28, 2003. ...

Origin of the name

Some believe that the name came from the name of the Jesuit Mariana, the 16th century theoretician of tyranny. Others think it was the image of the wife of the politician Jean Reubell: according to an old 1797 story, Barras, one of the members of the Directoire, during an evening spent at Reubell's, asked his hostess for her name -- "Marie-Anne," she replied -- "Perfect," Barras exclaimed, "It is a short and simple name, which befits the Republic just as much as it does yourself, Madame." The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... A tyrant (from Greek τυραννος) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. ... Jean-François Rewbell, (October 8, 1747 - November 23, 1807), French politician, born at Colmar (now in the département of Haut-Rhin). ... 1797 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Barras may mean: Paul François Jean Nicolas Barras (1755-1829), a French revolutionary and the main executive leader of the Directory regime of 1795 - 1799 Inhabitant of Ovifat, a Belgian town. ... The Directory (in French Directoire) held executive power in France from October 1795 until November 1799 - from the end of the Convention to the beginning of the Consulate. ...

A recent discovery establishes that the first written mention of the name of Marianne to designate the Republic appeared in October 1792 in Puylaurens in the Tarn département near Toulouse. At that time people used to sing a song in the Provençal dialect by the poet Guillaume Lavabre: 'La garisou de Marianno' (French: 'La guérison de Marianne'; 'Marianne's recovery'). 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Tarn is a département in the Midi-Pyrénées région in the south-west of France, named after the Tarn River. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties. ... The Capitole, the 18th century city hall of Toulouse and best known landmark in the city; in the foreground is the Place du Capitole, a hub of urban life at the very center of the city Toulouse (pronounced in standard French â–¶ (help· info), in local Toulouse accent â–¶ (help· info)) (Occitan... Provençal (Prouvençau in Provençal language) is one of several dialects of the Romance language Occitan, which is spoken by a minority of people in southern France and other areas of France. ...

The account made of their exploits by the Revolutionaries often contained a reference to a certain Marianne (or Marie-Anne) wearing a Phrygian cap. This pretty girl of legend inspired the sans-culottes, and looked after those wounded in the many battles across the country. The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a period in the history of France. ... The Phrygian cap or Liberty cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, worn by the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia in antiquity. ... Painted rendition of a sans-culottes. ...

The name of Marianne also appears to be connected with several Republican secret societies. During the Second Empire, one of them, whose members has sworn to overthrow the régime, had taken her name. The neutrality of this article is disputed. ...

Finally, at the time of the French Revolution, as the most common of people were fighting for their rights, it seemed fitting to name the Republic after the most common of French women's names. The French Revolution (1789-1799) was a period in the history of France. ...

Models

The Assemblée nationale decorated with 14 giant photographs of Modern Mariannes, Bastille Day 2003

Today Marianne remains as attractive as ever. She even has grown younger. The official busts, after having had anonymous features, began taking on the features of famous women during the Fifth Republic: the first was Brigitte Bardot in 1970, with the design of the sculptor Alain Gourdon, aka Aslan, who reportedly did the job initially as a joke. She was followed by Mireille Mathieu (1978, Aslan again), Catherine Deneuve (1985), Inès de la Fressange, Sophie Marceau, and Laetitia Casta (2000). The French parliament (lower house) decked out with posters of Mariannes daujourdhui (of today) during the celebrations of Bastille Day, 2003. ... The French parliament (lower house) decked out with posters of Mariannes daujourdhui (of today) during the celebrations of Bastille Day, 2003. ... The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, which was introduced on October 5, 1958. ... Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Bardot (born September 28, 1934 in Paris to Charles Pilou Bardot and Anne-Marie Mucel) is a French actress and model, daughter of an industrialist. ... Cover of a book of pin up by Aslan Aslan (real name is Alain Gourdon , born in Bordeaux (France) on May 23, 1930) is a French painter, sculptor and pin-up artist. ... Mireille Mathieu (album) Mireille Mathieu (born July 22, 1946) is a French singer. ... Catherine Deneuve at Cannes in 2000 Catherine Deneuve (born October 22, 1943) is a French actress, born in Paris, France. ... Sophie Marceau Sophie Marceau (born November 17, 1966) is a French actress. ... Victorias Secret swimsuit issue, 1998 Laetitia Marie Laure Casta (born May 11, 1978 in Pont-Audemer, France) is a French supermodel and actress. ...

Laetitia Casta was named the symbolic representation of France's Republic in a vote, for the first time open to the country's more than 36,000 mayors, in October 1999. She won from a shortlist of 5 candidates, scoring 36% among the 15,000 voting mayors. The other candidates were Estelle Hallyday, Patricia Kaas, Daniela Lumbroso and Nathalie Simon. Shortly thereafter a mini-scandal shook France, after it was publicized that Casta – the new icon of the Republic – had relocated to London. Although she claimed that her move was motivated by practical professional reasons, the magazine Le Point, among others, suggested that she was trying to escape taxes, "following 250,000 other money-making Frenchmen who moved to the United Kingdom". Victorias Secret swimsuit issue, 1998 Laetitia Marie Laure Casta (born May 11, 1978 in Pont-Audemer, France) is a French supermodel and actress. ... Patricia Kaas Patricia Kaas (* December 5, 1966 in Forbach, France) is a French singer. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

In 2002 a new Marianne was born. She does not have the features of a famous French woman but those of an anonymous beurette (young woman of North African descent), discovered by a scouting agent looking for a model who would symbolize a modern, multi-ethnic France. 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Azores, Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa. ...

In late 2003, Évelyne Thomas, a talk show host, was chosen as the new Marianne. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Évelyne Thomas (born January 10, 1964) is the hostess of the French talk show Cest mon choix (Its my choice). ... A talk show (U.S.) or chat show (Brit. ...

Note that although these figures are "official", there is no strict regulation governing the display of one over the other ones.

A new government logo

Blue-white-red, Marianne, Liberté-Egalité-Fraternité, the Republic: these powerful national symbols represent France and its values. Since September 1999, they have been combined in a new "identifier" created by the French government of Lionel Jospin under the aegis of the French Government Information Service (SIG) and the public relations officials in the principal ministries. As a federating identifier of the government departments, it appears on a wide range of material – brochures, internal and external publications, publicity campaigns, letter headings, business cards, etc. – emanating from the government, starting with the various ministries (which are able to continue using their own logo) and the préfectures, decentralised government departments in the regions and départements. logo French republic - see copyright notice at Talk:Marianne This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... The term tricolore can refer to: the Flag of France (in French, le drapeau tricolore or, rarely, le tricolore) the Flag of Italy (in Italian: il tricolore) the Flag of Romania (in Romanian: tricolorul) the Flag of Russia (in Russian: триколор) a tricolour banner or flag which has three colours, usually... National symbols are symbols of any entity considering itself and manifesting itself to the world as a national community (independent states, but also nations and countries in a state of colonialor other dependence, (con)federal integration, even an ethno-cultural community considered a nationality despite the absence of any political... This article is about the political and administrative structures of the French government. ... Lionel Robert Jospin (born July 12, 1937 in Meudon, a suburb of Paris) is a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997-2002. ... The term prefecture (from the Latin Praefectura) indicates the office, seat, territorial circonscription of a Prefect; consequentally, like that word, is its applied in English in relation to actual Prefects, whose title is just that (or the forms it takes in other, especially Romance, languages), in the broadest sense in...

The first objective targeted by this design is to unify government public relations. But it is also designed to "give a more accessible image to a State currently seen as abstract, remote and archaic, all the more essential in that French citizens express high expectations of the State".

This data was gathered from numerous interviews and consultations conducted by Sofres (a French survey institute) in January 1999, with the general public and government workers. It emerged that the French are deeply committed to the fundamental values of the Republic, and they expect an impartial and efficient State to be the guarantor of the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.

See also

• Ni Putes Ni Soumises
• Liberty (goddess)

Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissives) is a French feminist movement, founded in 2002, which has already secured the recognition of the French press and parliament. ... Goddesses of and with the name of (the equivalent of) Liberty have existed in many cultures. ...

See also

• Deutscher Michel
• John Bull
• Johnny Canuck
• Uncle Sam
• Johnny Reb
• Columbia
• Britannia
• Aura the Finnish Maiden

Deutscher Michel is a personification of the German nation, much as Uncle Sam is for Americans and Marianne for the French. ... World War I recruiting poster John Bull is a national personification of Britain created by Dr. John Arbuthnot in 1712 and popularized first by British print makers and then overseas by illustrators such as American cartoonist Thomas Nast. ... Johnny Canuck was a Canadian cartoon hero and superhero who was created as a political cartoon in 1869 and then was re-invented in 1942 and 1975. ... J. M. Flaggs Uncle Sam recruited soldiers for World War I. Uncle Sam is a national personification of the United States dating from the War of 1812. ... Johnny Rebel or Johnny Reb was the slang term for any Confederate soldier, or the Confederate army as a whole, during the American Civil War. ... Britannia, the British national personification. ... The Maiden of Finland (Finnish: Suomi-neito) is the personification of Finland, much as Marianne in France, Deutscher Michel in Germany and Uncle Sam for the United States. ...

External links and references

• Marianne - Laetitia Casta
• Marianne (French embassy in the USA)
• Marianne (French Prime Minister's office)
• Honoré Daumier's La République (1848)
• Mireille Mathieu as Marianne on Aslan's website
• Laetitia Casta as Marianne
• All the Mariannes d'aujourd'hui, Paris 2003
• Marianne History and Further Information
• M. Agulhon, Marianne into Battle: Republican imagery and symbolism in France, Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Sources

• Initial text and pictures from: [1]. Copyright free according to the notice at: [2].