On Tuesday President Emmanuel Macron travelled to Dordogne to unveil ‘the new face of Marianne’, which will appear on all French postage stamps for the next five years.

The ‘Marianne of the future’ represents a woman in profile, with her hair merging into a verdant green background.

Graphic designer Olivier Balez said he wanted to “share in the narrative about the climate emergency, without falling into stoking anxiety”. “It’s a Marianne of the green transition, with her long neck along the diagonal symbolising momentum towards the future,” he told AFP.

But who actually is Marianne? 

1. She’s very old 

The French symbol of ‘Marianne’ goes back to 1792 and the Revolution, but the figure of a woman wearing a Phrygian cap to represent freedom goes all the way back to ancient Rome.

The goddess Libertas symbolises freedom and her hat is the traditional cap given to freed slaves. A temple to Libertas was first proposed for Rome in 46BC, although it was never actually built. She’s usually described as a ‘matron’ or a mature woman.

She was adopted by the Revolutionaries in France who were casting around for a symbolic figure to represent the country as a replacement for the monarch, who had previously featured on coins and other symbols. 

No-one is quite sure where the name of Marianne came from, but the most frequently-offered explanation is that it is a combination of two of the most common women’s names of the period – Marie and Anne. 

2. She’s an official symbol of the republic 

If you’re taking part in a pub quiz – or your interview for French citizenship – and are asked to name the symbols of the French republic, you will definitely get a point for Marianne.

The others – according to the website of the Elysée – are; the French flag (tricolore), the national anthem (La Marseillaise), the national motto (liberté, egalité, fraternité), the Fête nationale (July 14th), the French cockerel, the crest known as Le Faisceau de Licteur or the seal (Le Sceau).

Marianne has had a few breaks as an official face of the state during the periods of the restoration of the monarchy, but she’s been a well-loved symbol for 231 years. 

Her most famous depiction is in Eugene Delacroix’s painting La Liberté guidant le peuple. Painted in 1830, well after the Revolution, it is the iconic image of France combining both Marianne and the tricolore flag. 

3. She wears a hat and sometimes an (insecurely-fastened) blouse

The classic depiction of Marianne shows her wearing a hat – specifically the red ‘phyrgian cap’.

As with Marianne herself, the cap goes all the way back to antiquity but in France it’s particularly associated with the Revolutionaries of the 1790s, cementing her status as a symbol of the French Republic. Most recently, the cap got a new lease of life as the mascot for the 2024 Paris Olympics – although it’s been suggested that the mascots also look like something else.

In Marianne’s official portraits such as on stamps only her head and shoulders are depicted.

But when she’s shown in full-length her depiction often copies Delacroix’s painting by showing her with her right breast bursting out of her blouse. After a 230-year shift as a symbol of the nation you’d think someone could find her a shirt with securely sewn-on buttons. 

4. She’s everywhere 

Once you start looking for Marianne you will realise that she is everywhere – receive any kind of official letter from the government – whether it’s a tax bill, information about your driving licence application or a criminal summons, and there Marianne will be in the top left corner. 

A sculpted bust of her stands in every mairie in France, from tiny villages to the grand town halls in France’s big cities, and in government offices like ministry buildings and the French parliament. 

There’s a massive statue of her in the Place de la République in Paris. The Monument de la République, to give the statue its official name, has been there since 1883 and she has become a focal point for the frequent protests and demos held in the square – she’s been regularly graffitied and draped in banners and colours symbolising thousands of different causes from equality for women, pension laws and solidarity with Ukraine. She never seems to mind. 

She’s also hidden in a few places, including the logo for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which is intended to combine images of the Olympic torch, a medal and Marianne. 

5. She changes all the time

She may be well over 200 years old, but that doesn’t mean that Marianne doesn’t have regular makeovers.

It’s traditional for modern French presidents to choose a new Marianne image for the postage stamps for each of their mandates – as Macron was re-elected in 2022 that means the Marianne unveiled on Tuesday is the second of his presidency.

His first Marianne, also unveiled in Dordogne, was created by the French-British street artist Yseult Digan, more widely known as YZ (pronounced ‘Eyes’), who painted her work across the entire wall of a public-housing estate in Perigueux, southwest France.

“I wanted this Marianne to be strong, proud and determined, with an unflinching look to the future,” the artist told the roughly 150 officials and guests at the work’s presentation in 2018.

Macron praised YZ’s “committed Marianne,” saying: “You were able to marry the reference to the phrygian bonnet with the freedom of her hair.”

She represented a sharp break from the more girlish and dewy-eyed version commissioned by ex-president Francois Hollande, her mouth slightly opened and hand raised over bared shoulders.

The latest new stamps will be available from November 13th.