For those of you who have never heard the name before, or perhaps did but forgot, Joseph Bara is to the French what Nathan Hale is to the Americans. Only difference is that Hale was 21 and Bara died at the age of 13. Come to think of it there is one other difference. For some strange reason in art Joseph Bara is often depicted stark raving nude. Seems an odd way to paint or sculpt a kid who you are trying lionize.
But even stranger is a painting I came across by the preeminent painter of the French revolution, Jacques-Louis David. David painted the young hero Joseph Bara as a nullo. Here is the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mort_ ... G_2266.JPG
So what's going on? Why paint a boy without genitals? Was Bara really a eunuch?
