“Notification au condamné de l’arrêt du Conseil de Guerre,” (Notifying the convicted prisoner of the Council of War’s Ruling)

“Notification au condamné de l’arrêt du Conseil de Guerre,” (Notifying the convicted prisoner of the Council of War’s Ruling)

L’Illustration, 29 December 1894

Here, L’Illustration imagines the moment in which Dreyfus was notified of his sentence after his trial had ended. The magazine describes the circumstances of Dreyfus’s notification in great detail later in the issue, explaining that the captain had not been present for the court’s decision. Instead, he was later notified in this salle de greffe, or court registry room, where a letter outlining his condemnation was read aloud to him.

Both this image and the accompanying article in L’Illustration marvel at Dreyfus’s stoic response to this “sad dénouement”: "Captain Dreyfus remained impassive, not a contraction of his face, not a gesture, not a quiver, nothing to indicate the sentiments that would have shaken him during the supreme hour of his terrible punishment, where his honor as a French citizen and soldier remained solemn until the end."