François-Noël Babeuf trial before the Aisne tribunal, which acquitted him on 18 July 1794, only days before the Thermidorian Reaction. Babeuf returned to Paris, and on 3 September 1794 published the first issue of his "Journal de la Liberté de la Presse", whose title was changed on 5 October 1794 to "Le Tribun du Peuple". The execution of Maximilien Robespierre on 28 July 1794 had ended the Reign of Terror and begun the White Terror. Babeuf – now self-styled "Gracchus" Babeuf – defended the fallen Terror politicians with the stated goal of achieving equality "in fact" and not only "by proclamation". However
The Execution of Lady Jane Grey to soak up blood, and the white dress were devices used by the artist to make the observer suppose what would happen to them next. The painting was made after the July Revolution of 1830 which deposed Charles X of France, the last of the French Bourbon monarchs. Charles X's brother was Louis XVI of France whose throne was usurped and who was executed during the French Revolution. It is also redolent of the execution of Marie-Antoinette. Unsurprisingly, the emotive painting caused something of a sensation. The painting was highly popular in the Paris salon when it was first exhibited