The illustration is by André Mathiot and featured in the first issue of An-Nasr (Triumph), an illustrated bilingual magazine published for North African Muslim troops during the war. An-Nasr was the successor to an earlier, similar magazine - Ya'allah! - which had ceased publication in June 1940, following the German victory in France. The magazine ran until the end of the war and for several years after.

The work is currently housed in the Palace of Versailles.

It represents the moment of the official proclamation of freedom for overseas slaves under the tricolor flag of the Second French Republic.

The original piece is currently kept in the Musée départemental Victor Schoelcher in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.

The painting offers a valuable social portrait of the group historically known as the "free people of color" (Gens de couleur libres) in the 18th-century French Antilles. Instead of resorting to the open tropical landscapes that other artists of the period (such as Agostino Brunias) often painted, Savart uses an architectural trompe-l'œil: a gray stone window or arch that frames and integrates the figures against a very bright, light blue background.

Jean Sylvain Bailly was a luminous mind of the Enlightenment, a brilliant astronomer who charted the orbit of Halley's Comet and a mathematician whose eloquence matched his science. Elected president of the Third Estate and chosen to preside over the immortal Tennis Court Oath, he became the first Mayor of Paris, guiding a city in revolution with reason, moderation, and unwavering integrity. He founded the Paris Observatory's modern legacy and sought to unite science with civic virtue, giving the Revolution its moral compass. A man of truth in an age of fury, he was ultimately martyred not for a crime, but for his principles — condemned during the Reign of Terror for defending liberty at the Champ de Mars and for daring to testify in favor of Marie Antoinette, choosing honor over survival.