Inspired by the centuries growing radical idea and the financial conditions of the poor, the French Revolution from 1789 until 1799 saw the end of absolute monarchy in France, the terror of the guillotine, the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and a global conflict  that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. These headless portraits testify to the juxtaposition of ideals and brutality seen during the period. Alexandre de Beauharnais (28 May 1760 – 23 July 1794) was a French officer having served in Louis XVI's (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) army in the American Revolutionary War, before being made a general in 1792. During the ‘Reign of Terror’ (1793–1794) he was considered an aristocratic enemy of the revolution and was guillotined on 23 July 1794. His wife Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie, (23 June 1763 – 29 May 1814) would later marry Napoleon Bonaparte.