François Topino-Lebrun

He began his studies at the Académie de Marseille under the direction of Jean-Joseph Kapeller, one of its founding members.

The following year, he was selected to be part of a mission from the Interior Ministry, charged with assessing the political situation in Marseille.

The following year, perhaps after a brief stay in prison, he became an associate of Gracchus Babeuf and Marc-Antoine Jullien de Paris then, in November, he accompanied Jean Bassal (one of the Montagnards) on an official mission to Switzerland.

In 1799, he joined the Club du Manège [fr], a Neo-Jacobin organization, and painted "The Siege of Sparta", a call-to-arms to defend the Republic.

Later, he became a suspect in the Conspiration des poignards, an alleged plot to assassinate Napoléon that was apparently begun by a police agent in what would now be called a "sting operation".