448 



GIPSY GIRONDISTS. 



church of Santa Croce, awl thr burial of the virgin, 

 sd much iuimired by Miduiel Anaelo ami Mengs), 

 also tlie history of St Francis, at ASMM, and M \n;il 

 miniatures. This extraordinary man was equally 

 successful as a statuary and architect. He died in 

 1336, and left numerous scholars. 



GIPSY. See Gypsy. 



( ; 1 11 A FFE. See Cameleopard. 



GIRARDON, FRANCIS, statuary and architect, 

 was born, 1628, at Troyes, in Champagne, and was 

 a pupil of Laurence Maziere. After he had com- 

 pleted his studies with Francis Anguier, he acquired 

 such celebrity, that Louis XIV. sent him to Home, 

 with a pension, to study the ancient and modern 

 masters in the art. After his return, he ornamented 

 the royal palaces with his works, both in marble and 

 bronze. On Lebrun's death, he obtained the office 

 of overseer of all the works in statuary. His works 

 are remarkable for purity of design and beauty of 

 arrangement. The most noted are the following: 

 the splendid monument of cardinal Richelieu, for- 

 merly in the church of the Sorbonne, afterwards in 

 the museum of the Petits Augustins ; the equestrian 

 statue of Louis XIV., which was his masterpiece, 

 and which was thrown down and broken to pieces, 

 August 12, 1792 ; the Rape of Proserpine, in the 

 garden of Versailles ; and the masterly groups which 

 ornament the Apollo baths, also at Versailles. As 

 he was too constantly occupied to work much him- 

 self on his marbles, he left this portion of the labour 

 to artists, who, although respectable, had not the 

 talents of their master. He died at Paris, 1715. His 

 wife, Catharine Duchemin, painted flowers. 



GIRODET, TRIOSON NICHOLAS, boni in 1767, at 

 Montargis, was the most original, versatile, and sci- 

 entific of the modern school of French painters, and 

 was a scholar of Regnault. He studied, while quite 

 young, at Rome. He obtained the great prize among 

 the pupils of David, at twenty-two years of age. A 

 decided inclination to the ancient style and the ful- 

 ness of statuary, is very perceptible in liis works ; 

 but they are also distinguished for life, nature, and 

 beauty. His drawing is correct, and of great preci- 

 sion ; his colouring is rich, transparent, and harmo- 

 nious. He works with equal care and genius. He 

 loves to produce effect by strong lights, but they are 

 in unison with the spirit of the pieces. The Endy- 

 mion, which he painted while in Italy, is one of his 

 finest pieces. His Hippocrates (engraved by Mas- 

 sard), is a beautiful specimen of chiaro-scuro. His 

 Deluge is celebrated, and shows a spark of the 

 gigantic genius of Buonarotti. His Attala, from 

 Chateaubriand, is charming. He painted Napoleon 

 receiving the keys of Vienna. His portraits are full 

 of truth and strength. He painted, in 1824, the full 

 length portraits of the Vendean leaders, Bonchamp 

 ana Cathelineau, the first from a miniature, and the 

 latter from the features of his son, who resembled 

 him. His last great picture represents Saint Louis 

 in Egypt. He died at Paris, Dec. 9, 1824. 



GIRONDE ; a river in France, formed by the 

 union of the Garonne and Dordogne, twelve miles 

 below Bourdeaux. It runs into the Atlantic, after a 

 course of about twenty-seven miles N. N. W. It 

 gives its name to a department (see Departments), 

 which has acquired celebrity from the Girondists. 



(q- v.) 



GIRONDISTS (les Girondtns), a republican party 

 of an elevated character in the second French (legis- 

 lative) assembly (1791 3), were distinguished for 

 the abilities and eloquence of their most eminent 

 speakers, and for their six months' fatal contest with 

 the Mountain party in the, national convention. They 

 were called Girondists, because their leaders, Gua- 

 det, Gensonne", Vergniaud, with whom were con- 



nected about twenty others (and among them (he 

 talented Ducos), were from the department of the 

 Gironde. At their head stood the intrepid, fiery 

 Guadet, one of the most distinguished orators in the 

 convention. He was an advocate at Bourdeaux, 

 when, at the age of thirty-two, he was elected a 

 member of the legislative assembly, at the time (179 1 ) 

 when the king was detained as a prisoner in his 

 palace, after his return from Varennes, when repub- 

 lican notions were adopted by the ablest men, and 

 public opinion required the substitution of a republi- 

 can form of government for the monarchy. The 

 deputies of the department of the Gironde, before 

 setting out for Paris, swore, in their clubs at Bour- 

 deaux, to eradicate the last remains of monarchy, and 

 found a republic in its place. On this account, 

 Guadet and his associates did not join the club of the 

 Feuillants, by which the constitutional monarchy 

 was defended, but that of the Jacobins, among whom 

 the most violent demagogues (the Cordeliers), Dan- 

 ton, Robespierre, Brissot, Petion, Sieyes, and others, 

 had inspired the minds of the people with such a 

 hatred of the king, as to lead to the utter subversion 

 of the throne. Guadet's stormy eloquence produced 

 a most powerful impression. His chief attacks were 

 upon the emigrants, the priests, the court, and the 

 ministers. In this spirit the decree against the king's 

 brothers was proposed by him and Gensonne, Jan. 2, 

 1792. But there were other Girondists, who wen- 

 more moderate, and not declared enemies of the king. 

 From among these Louis chose his ministers, Ro- 

 land, Servan, Claviere, and Dumouriez; but the 

 others advanced with impetuosity in the path of the 

 revolution, and the attack upon the Tuileries, June 

 22, 1792, was generally regarded as their work. 

 Learning prudence from the violent democracy of 

 the party of which Danton was the leader, they be- 

 gan, towards the end of July, 1792, to make advances 

 to the constitutionalists, and even to treat with the 

 court. Their advances were rejected, and they re- 

 turned to their old system, but still had no part in the 

 horrors of the 10th August, which were wholly the 

 work of Danton and his party. They thought the 

 moment for founding a republic was not yet arrived, 

 and even proposed to appoint a governor for the 

 dauphin. After the 10th August, Guadet, and other 

 Girondists, were the most effective members of the 

 executive committee, in which they not only avoided 

 any act of violence, but protected the proscribed. 

 But they were soon compelled to yield to Danton 's 

 party, which had the Paris mob upon their side, and 

 to suffer the massacre of the prisoners, upon the 2d 

 September, to take place under their eyes. Their 

 republican spirit awaked anew, when the army of the 

 allies entered France, and Guadet proposed that the 

 town of Longwy should be levelled with the ground, 

 because it had suffered the enemy to enter it. He 

 opposed, with great force, the Orleans faction, and 

 demanded the punishment of the crimes of Septem- 

 ber 2. But the Girondists, who had just drawn up 

 a new constitution (the work of the celebrated Con- 

 dorcet), could not, from their known principles, de- 

 pend for assistance upon either the constitutionalists 

 or royalists, and the Jacobins reproached them with 

 their former connexion with the court. Guadet was 

 exposed to the most violent attacks from the Jaco- 

 bins and the Cordeliers (the followers of Marat), be- 

 cause he was the principal object of their dread. 

 This was particularly the case with Robespierre. 

 But the orator of the Garonne alone, and by the 

 force of his talents, overthrew the popular favourite, 

 so that even his enemies were constrained to admire 

 him. Guadet displayed himself most signally, when 

 he accused Danton and Robespierre of being the 

 supporters of a tar more dangerous party than that 



