[1] Historian David Bell concludes: "The bals des victimes... never took place — they were an invention of early nineteenth-century Romantic authors.
"[3] The bals des victimes allegedly began as part of a rash of merrymaking and balls that broke out as the Terror came to an end.
[4] Descriptions of the balls' particulars vary, but the common thread is that they were a cathartic device in which the participants acted out the emotional impact of their relatives' executions and the social upheavals occurring as a result of the revolution.
Whether real or imagined, the very idea of the balls reflected the post-Terror generations' morbid fascination with the horror of the guillotine and the excesses of the French Revolution with its mass executions.
"[5] Women, and by some accounts men too, wore a red ribbon or string around their necks at the point of a guillotine blade's impact.
[12] Some sources state that a woman sporting this hairstyle sometimes wore a red shawl or throat ribbon even when not attending a bal des victimes.
The restrictions the state placed upon dress and behavior are important parts of any study of individualism, liberty, and personal expression.
The balls and festivals of 1797 and the laws regulating such activities are of special interest to many keen to better understand the dynamics of the closing years of the French Revolution.
An article in the May, 2022 issue of Gericault Life Magazine [14] provides concrete evidence that the bals des victimes did indeed take place.
The second press report provides political and cultural context - describing the restrictions the Paris authorities placed upon those holding and attending balls.