6. Content…
Content is all about the literal material inside the
image… what does you ‘see’?
• Who or what is in the image?
• What is it / are they doing?
• Who do you think it might represent?
• What symbols do you see?
• What events are being represented?
7. Origin…
Origin involves thinking about where the image
came from – both when and whom
• When was the image made? Any clues?
• Any events you can reference?
• Any places shown or implied in the image?
• Any words? What are they? Language?
• Who might have created the image? What
individual or group? Why might this be?
8. Motive…
Motive is about identifying an image’s ideas and
trying to evaluate its function
• What point-of-view is being expressed?
• What’s the tone: Serious? Critical? Satire?
• What does the creator want the viewer to think
and/or to feel?
• How valid is this perspective, based on what
you know?
9. Audience…
Audience is about trying to evaluate who the
image was aimed at
• Who might have been the target audience?
• What is a member of this audience presumed to
know before seeing the image
• How successful was the image in conveying its
ideas or assessments?
10. Let’s follow this process through an
image from THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION…
11.
12.
13. Success hinges on an understanding of events as they occurred in
chronological order – and where the key ideas, leaders and
movements are placed against the backdrop of these events.
Critical Skills:
o Comprehension
o Evaluation
o Synthesis - an understanding and appreciation of the
interconnectedness of ideas, leaders, movements and events.
You need to appreciate the graphic on a number of levels: its -
o Literal statements – ie. what is stated.
o Inferred statements – ie. what is implied.
o Applied statements – ie. what are the general principles the artist/writer
would support…
14. Useful questions or starting points:
•o Date (when?)
•o Author / Artist (who?)
•o Audience (where?)
•o Purpose (why?)
•o Captions / labels (what?)
•o Icons / symbols (what?)
•o Characters / monuments (what?)
•o Tone (Biased, reasonable, emotional, propagandist?)
•o Support (Is the source supported by other sources /
representations?)
•o What is being said? (inclusions)
•o What isn’t being said? (exclusions)
•o Value (Reliability, usefulness, relevance?)
15. Content:
• A peasant riding on the back of a
member of the aristocracy who is being
led by a member of the clergy.
• the peasant’s actions are
celebratory… a new found sense of
liberty and of freedom!
• The peasant is carrying of freshly
killed rabbit indicating the dismantling of
feudalism – the removal of dues payed
to nobles in the form of money, food &
labour.
•The subjugated noble is a noble of the
sword (noblesse de’epee) and the
member of the clergy is from the
establish Catholic church.
•This is an optimistic representation that
displays, through the inclusion of the
revolutionary cockade, a unity of spirit
despite the altered hierarchy of the
three Estates.
16. Origin:
• both the text and the content suggest it
is French in origin
• obviously pro-revolution and anti-
aristocracy and anti-church
•the fact the peasant sit on the back of
an aristocrat suggests it is post-August
4th 1789
Motive:
• to celebrate the achievements of June-
July 1789
•to ‘educate’ the illiterate peasantry that
make up 85% of the French population
• to gain support for the newly
established National Assembly
• to idealise the role of the peasantry to
secure their compliance.
17. Audience:
• most definitely the peasantry – the
poor rural population of France.
• some familiarity with the basic symbols
is assumed – nb. Its contrast with earlier
representations of peasant subjugation.
• definitely not the aristocracy for it is a
message of ridicule!
Strengths of
representation
?
Weakness of
representation?
18. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA for SAC 1 (and November
Examination)
1. Understanding and appropriate use of historical terms,
concepts, commentaries and interpretations.
2. Application of evidence to support arguments and
conclusions.
3. Knowledge of the commencement, ongoing development
(and /or consolidation of the revolution). (NB 2
timeframes)
4. Knowledge of key events, factors, individuals and/or
groups influencing the revolution (and its consolidation).
5. Analysis of the revolutionary struggle (and the creation of
a new society).
6. Evaluation of change in the revolution.
25. NOW let’s work through an image
and some typical SAC / exam
questions….
French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath 20th June 1789
26. Questions (taken from 2005 Nov. VCAA Exam):
a. Name two social groups depicted in this
representation. (2 marks)
b. What details in the representation show change from
the traditional order?
(2 marks)
c. What revolutionary ideas are symbolised by the three
figures embracing in the foreground and the figure
seated at the table who is not joining in with the
actions of the crowd? (2 marks)
d. Using your own knowledge, explain the causes of the
event of 20 June 1789. (6 marks)
e. To what extent is this representation useful in
understanding perceived inequalities that contributed
to the revolution? (8 marks)
27.
28.
29. French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath,
20th June 1789
Question:
a. Name two social groups
depicted in the representation.
(2 marks)
30. French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath,
20th June 1789
Question:
a. Name two social groups
depicted in the representation.
(2 marks)
Answer:
a. I. The Third Estate –
members of the
bourgeoisie.
Ii. The First Estate –
members of the clergy.
31.
32.
33. French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath’,
20th June 1789
Question:
b. What details in this
representation show change
from the traditional order ?
(2 marks)
34. French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath’,
20th June 1789
Question:
b. What details in this
representation show change
from the traditional order ?
(2 marks)
Answer:
b. I. Bailly, rather than the King or
nobility, is portrayed as the
leading figure.
ii. The beam of light -
representative of the
Enlightenment and
progressive thought.
35.
36.
37. French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath’, 20
June 1789
Question:
c. What revolutionary ideas are
symbolised by the three figures
embracing in the foreground and
the figure seated at the table
who is not joining in with the
actions of the crowd? (2
marks)
38. French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath’, 20
June 1789
Question:
c. What revolutionary ideas are
symbolised by the three figures
embracing in the foreground and
the figure seated at the table
who is not joining in with the
actions of the crowd? (2
marks)
Answer:
c. I. The embrace of the three clergy of different orders symbolises
freedom of religious expression.
ii. The lone dissenter represents freedom of speech and opinion.
39.
40.
41. French Revolution
‘the Tennis Court Oath’, June 1789
Question:
d. Using your own knowledge, explain the
causes of the event of 20 June 1789? (6
marks)
42. French Revolution
‘the Tennis Court Oath’, June 1789
Question:
d. Using your own knowledge, explain the
causes of the event of 20 June 1789? (6
marks)
Answer:
d. The Tennis Court Oath came about because of the revolutionary
idealism, in defiance of monarchical absolutism, of the time. The
defiance of the Assembly of Notables forced King Louis XVI to call the
Estates General on 5 May, 1789 and also inspired the Third Estate to
take defiant action of their own. The Third Estate refused to concede
voting by head, were locked our of their meeting hall, and thus met to
take this Oath ‘never to disband’ until they had given France a
Constitution. Revolutionary ideas such as those expressed by Abbe
Sieyes in ‘What is the Third Estate?’ contributed to such revolutionary
feeling.
43.
44. French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath’, 20 June 1789
Question:
e. To whatextent is this representation useful in understanding
perceived inequalities that contributed to the revolution? (8
marks)
45. French Revolution
‘The Tennis Court Oath’, 20 June 1789
Question:
e. To what extent is this representation useful in understanding
perceived inequalities that contributed to the revolution? (8
marks)
Answer:
e. Thisrepresentation depicts the Third Estate, and certain clergy,
defying the inequalities that the Estate system imposed upon them
thus sparking the bourgeois stage of the French Revolution.
However, it does not define what these perceived inequalities actually
were. The Estate system carried such inequalities as taxation
exemptions for the privileged estates and inequality before the law. It
was indeed Jacques Necker’s attempts to redress taxation inequality
and thus resolve France’s fiscal crisis, that led to the defiance of first
the Assembly of Notables and then the Third Estate. So although this
representation depicts defiance of the injustice of the estate system –
a key reason for revolution, it does not explain what the inequalities
entailed.
46. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (for November Examination)
1. Understanding and appropriate use of historical terms,
concepts, commentaries and interpretations.
2. Application of evidence to support arguments and
conclusions.
3. Knowledge of the commencement, ongoing development
and /or consolidation of the revolution.
4. Knowledge of key events, factors, individuals and/or
groups influencing the revolution and its consolidation.
5. Analysis of the revolutionary struggle and the creation of
a new society.
6. Evaluation of change in the revolution.
