This famous piece by Eugene Delacroix portrays an allegory of the French July revolution. You might think, that it's author (he placed himself on the painting, as the man in a high-hat) was a very radical revolutionary. And you would be wrong. Soon afterwards, when the February revolution broke down the regime of Louis-Philippe, he was asked to paint a sequel to his painting. He refused, because in his view this revolution was too radical. As you can see, those French people have in their history as much kinds of various revolutions, as many kinds of wine and cheese. They are conoisseurs of all those subjects...