"Portrait de la pyramide dressée devant la porte du Pallais [sic]".

Engraving, 46,5 x 26 cm, 48 x 56,3 cm (with 2 sheets of letterpress text) (few light stains).

Good impression.

Very rare plate showing the commemorative "pyramid", actually a square construction surmounted by four statues (cardinal virtues) and an obelisk ending in a cross. With the transcription of the "Arrest de la cour" of the parliament against Châtel and "Prosopopée, de la pyramide [...]". On 27 December 1594, Châtel (1575-1594), son of a cloth merchant, attempted to assassinate King Henri IV with a knife. Immediately arrested, he was executed by dismemberment two days later. Châtel's father's house on the Île de la Cité was demolished and replaced in 1595 by the "pyramid". As Châtel had been a pupil of the Jesuits at the college of Clermont, they were accused of having inspired his act and sentenced to banishment. One of them was hanged and then burned in the Place de Grève. The college was closed, and the building was confiscated. The Jesuit Order was banned from France, although this ban was quickly lifted. In 1605, after Henry IV recalled the Company of Jesus, Châtel's pyramid was destroyed and replaced by a fountain.