Swiss Peasant Girl and Army

19th century unknown

Baxter-process print

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: Switzerland
    City: Berne
    Place: British Embassy

    This print illustrates the Swiss peasant war of 1653 which was a popular revolt in the Old Swiss Confederacy at the time of the Ancien Régime. A devaluation of Bernese money caused a tax revolt that spread from the Entlebuch valley in the Canton of Lucerne to the Emmental valley in the Canton of Bern and then to the cantons of Solothurn and Basel and also to the Aargau. The population of the countryside demanded fiscal relief from their ruling authorities, the city councils of these cantons' capitals. When their demands were dismissed by the cities, the peasants organized themselves and threatened to blockade the cities. Mary Shelley wrote a short story The Swiss Peasant in 1830.


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  • Details
    Title
    Swiss Peasant Girl and Army
    Date
    Medium
    Baxter-process print
    Acquisition
    Presented by Sir Nigel Ronald, January 1954
    GAC number
    15637