Maximilien de Robespierre, the infamous French revolutionary leader, may have been suffering from a rare immune disorder when he was guillotined in 1794, experts say.
The evidence emerged after scientists used a death mask made by Madame Tussaud to reconstruct the face of the man who started the ‘reign of terror’ in 18th-century France.
Careful examination of the wax mask, together with a review of historical medical records, indicated that Robespierre was afflicted by sarcoidosis, a rare disorder which causes the immune system to attack the body’s own tissues and organs.
Writing in The Lancet medical journal, forensic scientist Philippe Charlier and facial reconstruction expert Philippe Froesch said: “Several clinical signs were described by contemporary witnesses: vision problems, nose bleeds (“he covered his pillow of fresh blood each night”), jaundice (“yellow-coloured skin and eyes”), asthenia (“continuous tiredness”), recurrent leg ulcers, and frequent facial skin disease associated with scars of a previous smallpox infection. He also had permanent eye and mouth twitching. The symptoms worsened between 1790 and 1794.”
“The retrospective diagnosis that includes all these symptoms is diffuse sarcoidosis with ophthalmic, upper-respiratory-tract (nose or sinus mucosa), and liver or pancreas involvement. We do not know which treatment was given by his personal physician, but fruits might have been included (in view of his very high consumption of oranges) along with baths and blood letting.”
Sarcoidosis causes small areas of inflammation in the body’s tissues called granulomas and most commonly affects the lungs, skin and lymph nodes.
The eyes, liver, and pancreas may also be damaged, and the condition is often accompanied by tiredness and general malaise.
Froesch used a handheld 3D scanner to map the scars, pockmarks and fine details of Robespierre’s “pale and tired” face.
Madame Tussaud, famous for her waxworks museum in London, took Robespierre’s head from the guillotine basket after he was decapitated on July 28, 1794, and used it to model the mask.
The original was taken with her when she went to London in 1802, and copies were made. During the French Revolution, Madame Tussaud saved her own head by agreeing to create death masks of famous people who were executed.