The Gallic Women: Episode from the Roman Invasion

The Gallic Women: Episode from the Roman Invasion (French: Les Femmes Gauloises: épisode de l'invasion romaine) is a painting by Auguste-Barthélemy Glaize, from 1851.

An old mother hides her daughter in her arms; another shakes her golden sickle while shouting; a third, implacable in her anger and in her hatred, holds the child she has just slaughtered to save him from the victors.

Classical authors mostly considered that the outstanding trait of Gallic women as that they showed great fighting spirit; they were thought of as wild and dishevelled, hence typically barbaric.

[7] It was acquired by the state because of its patriotic qualities - Glaize had transformed a historic defeat into an act of bravery that appealed greatly to the newly-proclaimed emperor Napoleon III.

[2] Commenting on the works exhibited at the 1852 Salon, Marie-Noemi Cadiot remarked on the energy, character and grand scale of the painting, but felt the composition was let down by Glaize’s lack of skill as a colourist.