In 1789, when Jacques Necker was dismissed, the reactionary Court party nominated Foullon as Controller-General of Finances and minister of the king's household in the new government.

After the storming of the Bastille on 14 July, Foullon fled from Paris to his friend Antoine de Sartine's house at Viry-Châtillon, a few miles south of the capital.

Made to walk barefoot, he had a bundle of hay tied to his back,[1] was given peppered vinegar to drink, and had the sweat on his face wiped off with nettles.

As he was hanged from a lamp-post, the rope broke three times in a row – so members of the crowd decided to behead him instead, before parading his head on a pike with his mouth stuffed with grass, hay and excrement.

The nature of the killing of both Foullon and Bertier was endorsed by Antoine Barnave, a member of the new National Legislative Assembly, with the comment: "What, then, is their blood so pure?".