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Primary sourcePainting

Portrait of Olympe de Gouges

Alexander Kucharsky

A pastel portrait believed to be the best-known likeness of Olympe de Gouges made during her lifetime.

The best-known lifetime portrait of Olympe de Gouges, showing how she presented herself in society.

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Pastel-style portrait of a woman with powdered grey hair piled high, wearing a white shawl, against a dark brown and grey background. She has a slight smile and looks toward the viewer.
Alexander Kucharski, Portrait of Olympe de Gouges.

About this source

What it is

This pastel portrait is attributed to the artist Alexander Kucharski. It shows a woman with powdered grey hair, wearing a white shawl.

Why it matters

As the best-known image of Olympe de Gouges made while she was alive, it shows how she presented herself within fashionable Parisian society of her time, a useful contrast to her radical political writing.

Look closer

  • What does the clothing and hairstyle suggest about the social world de Gouges moved in?
  • How does her expression compare with the forcefulness of her writing?
  • Why might this image matter for understanding a historical figure beyond their words?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Olympe de Gouges on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Printed page of the 1791 Declaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne, with the title in large capitals, a subtitle addressed to the National Assembly, and the opening Preambule paragraphs in French text.Document

Primary source

Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen

Olympe de Gouges · 1791

Painted allegory of the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. A title plaque reads 'Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen' above two tablets of text. A seated woman with chains and a standing winged figure with a wand flank the plaque, under a radiant eye in a triangle.Document

Primary source

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

National Constituent Assembly · 1789

Printed broadside titled 'Les Trois Urnes, ou le Salut de la Patrie, par un Voyageur Aérien' in large capitals on an orange-tinted page, with dense multi-column French text below the title.Document

Primary source

Les Trois Urnes, ou le Salut de la Patrie, par un voyageur aérien

Olympe de Gouges · 1793

Title page scan of the 1793 French text 'Testament politique d'Olympe de Gouges', printed in serif type with a decorative rule above and below the title. The opening paragraph begins with 'O divine providence!' and is partly faded and smudged.Document

Primary source

Testament politique d'Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges · June 1793

Decorative printed border ornament in a rectangular frame: a central fleur-de-lis inside a sunburst of radiating lines, flanked by swags of foliage and scrolling acanthus leaves. Appears to be a page ornament from an 18th-century printed book.Document

Primary source

Remarques patriotiques

Olympe de Gouges · 1789

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