King Louis XVI of France bids his farewell to the people of Paris while ascending the stairs to the scaffold where he was guillotined on the 21 January 1793. Aquatint with engraving by C. Silanio after C. Benazech, 1793.

Artists of all kinds saw Louis's death as an act of martyrdom, and this was fostered by the testimony of the Irish priest, the Abbé Edgeworth, who ministered to the king on the scaffold. According to the Abbé the king behaved with impeccable dignity in his last moments and faced death with true Christian resignation. When the king protested at having his hands bound, the Abbé was supposed to have remarked: " Sire, in this new outrage I see one last resemblance between your majesty and the god who is about to be your reward", to which the king replied, "Surely it needs nothing less than His example to make me submit to such an insult". Louis's last words were those of Christian forgiveness:"I die innocent of all crimes with which I am charged. I forgive those who are guilty of my death, and I pray God that the blood that you are about to shed may never be required of France"