Cholera in Paris
1865
François-Nicolas Chifflart’s dramatic etching captures the sheer terror of the 1832 cholera epidemic sweeping through Paris. A swirling, demonic cloud of tangled, suffering figures dominates the sky, seemingly carried away by a violent, supernatural wind over the city's skyline, where the silhouette of Notre Dame stands stoically below. Created in 1865, this Romantic-era piece visualizes the invisible killer as a chaotic force, turning a devastating public health crisis into a nightmarish vision of human vulnerability against nature's wrath. It’s a stark reminder of how art processed collective trauma long before modern medicine.
- Technique
- etching
- Material
- paper
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