Gustave Courbet was billed 323,000 francs to rebuild the Vendôme Column and died in Swiss exile in 1877

Gustave Courbet proposed on 4 September 1870 that the Vendôme Column, topped by a statue of Napoleon, be taken down. The Paris Commune pulled it down on 16 May 1871. Courbet was arrested on 7 June 1871. On 14 August 1871 a military tribunal convicted him of complicity in the destruction of monuments and sentenced him to six months in prison and a 500-franc fine. He finished the sentence on 2 March 1872. The National Assembly voted in 1873 to rebuild the column, which was completed on 28 December 1875. In 1873 Courbet went to Switzerland, taking most of his paintings, to avoid bankruptcy. In May 1877 the state set the rebuilding cost at 323,000 francs, payable at 10,000 francs a year over 33 years. Reports say he refused a first demand for 15,000 francs and paid no installment^†. Some sources say the state seized and sold his property; no source found gives dates or amounts^†. He died of liver disease on 31 December 1877, aged 58.