Les Incroyables et Merveilleuses
The Fashionable Post-Revolutionary Set
Paris Circa 1796
After the fall of Robespierre and the end of the Terror, a wave of relief and of fashion giddiness swept Paris.
Young men known as "Incroyables" and their female counterparts "Les Merveilleuses" rejoiced in adopting a wildly exaggerated look which flouted the social conventions of the time. They were the ultimate dandy set, the golden youth of their time, arrogant and outrageous. (See Attributes of an Incroyable, opposite for more on their attire).
Some of the Incroyables, known as Muscadins (because of their heavy musk perfume), had a dark side. They organized into bands and roamed the streets using their bludgeons and canes to harass the revolutionary Jacobins.
Shown on this page are two original 19th Century hand colored copperplate engravings by Carle Vernet, three by his son Horace Vernet, and the engraving "Point de Convention" by Louis-Léopold Boilly (1797).
These original period engravings are available for sale. Click on the images for further detail about each.
Please contact Village Antiques
for Prices or More Information
A number of these images are available as reproduction prints through our Zazzle Antique Images shop
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