"Freedom of the Press", 1796

This graphic satire summarizes in a single illustration the production and distribution process of the political press: from the typesetting of manuscripts, the blackening of the plates and the printing and drying of the wet sheets to the hawkers calling out to sell the folded papers. The "Journalschreyer" (journal criers) hold out to the viewers more than twenty different papers, characterized by associated persons. Whereas, front-left, a civilly dressed man with a cane calls out on behalf of the moderate Parisien, a simple woman with a headscarf advertises alongside him for the Republican Publiciste. In the centre, a man with a cap reminiscent of Marat offers the revolutionary Furet, and next to him another one sporting a hat peddles the politically active Ami de la Patrie. Both are driven back by an elegant pair – a bourgeois woman with a bonnet proclaiming the Voyageur and the revived Jacques-René Hébert, who, along with his sans-culottes friendly Père Duchesne of 1793 now also distributes the Miroir. This cartoon was copied in Weimar and published with a commentary in 1799 in the journal London und Paris.

"Freiheit der Presse", coloured etching, 28.5 x 33.9cm, France, 1796, unknown artist; source: Prometheus – Das verteilte Bildarchiv für Forschung und Lehre, Lexikon der Revolutions-Ikonographie, Justus Liebig Universität Gießen, Historisches Institut, https://prometheus-bildarchiv.de/de/ (fee for access).