This work, done in the watercolor technique, shows a scene from the French revolution: Camille Desmoulins, a young writer who participated in the revolutionary action, ushers a call to arms to the citizens who gathered at Palais Royal on July 12, 1789. As a brilliant young journalist, he wrote a number of bitter pamphlets denouncing the old regime. He was a member of the Cordeliers Club and served as the Convent deputy. Together with Danton, he strove against the terroristic policies of the state implanted after the fall of the Girondists. He was arrested, sentenced to death by the revolutionary tribunal, and executed with other “indulgents” in April of 1794. Supposedly, the watercolor was designed as an illustration for the “History of France” by Henri Martin – a project that was never published. This elaborate picture produces an overall impression of a solid medium-sized easel painting. There is a bit of a paradox, however, in the fact that Daumier’s properly figurative artworks made with oil on canvas are more sketch-like and cannot be used as a reference point in terms of completeness. The influence of English masters can be noticed in this artwork; the color harmony is reminiscent of watercolors by Thomas Rowlandson.