Poliorcetic Art: Paris Does Not Exist

Ernest Meissonier's 1871 allegory

Paris. The city’s very name screams European culture and civilization, not to mention stubbornness. The Siege of Paris was huge, for the city was enormous and ringed with powerful fortresses. So huge, in fact, was the Siege of Paris that no single painting could possibly take in its full scale.

After Napoleon III was surrounded and forced to surrender, t…