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5. How would our analyses change if we knew more about the date, engravers, designers, producers, merchants and distribution of the images in question? What do the images reveal about class or gender? What can the style and rendering of an image disclose about the political ideology or psychological predisposition of the engraver, printer, or patron? How might one get at the intent of the image makers compatered to the reading produced by contemporary viewers.

In this study of revolutionary prints on-line, it is frustrating to bypass the material object. Part of the pleasure of working with art material is the opportunity of touching, viewing, and evaluating the object itself. By examining the paper, ink, color and the quality of the engraving application, scholars can appreciate the aesthetic as well as textual content of an image. Furthermore, with a magnifying glass it is often possible to discern the names of the printer, artist/engraver in a discrete corner of the print and discover a political seal or date that identifies the year of publication. But practically speaking, with the exception of some private collections, such access is no longer generally possible. Instead, current scholars are obliged to work primarily with either photo reproductions or microfilm from large collections such as those at Bibliothèque Nationale. There is no doubt that researchers have benefited from the videodisc collection on revolutionary imagery from the BN. But as Lynn and Wayne indicate, without contemporaneous evidence in the form of advertisements, business archives, notary, or censorship records, it is difficult to place visual material in any specific ideological or historical context. Furthermore, because of the controversial nature of many revolutionary themes, provenance and date are not always apparent in the composition.

Beyond the scholarship of the former director of the Cabinet des Estampes, Jean Adhémar, few scholars have done extensive work on printers in eighteenth-century Paris much less their relationship to other European firms. As Lynn suggests, such comparative studies of printers and/or visual themes could provide important data about specific engravers, the circumstances surrounding the production of their work, and some idea about their virtual audience. I would also recommend that further traditional or comparative studies be done on printing firms from the rue St. Jacques (including their relationship to less known provincial or international firms) to provide a more viable historical base for the interpretation of revolutionary imagery.

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