Imaging the French Revolution Discussion
Imaging the French Revolution Discussion
               
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1. Are images vital sources of historical knowledge that have been insufficiently exploited?
 
images as sources Lynn Hunt, 5-31-03, 5:48 PM
RE: images as sources Wayne Hanley, 6-6-03, 9:29 AM
RE: Images as Sources (June 22, 2003) Barbara Day-Hickman, 6-22-03, 4:40 PM
reading images Lynn Hunt, 6-23-03, 10:44 PM
historical knowledge Vivian Cameron, 7-5-03,
5:15 PM
Some belated comments Warren Roberts, 7-9-03,
10:53 AM
A postscript Warren Roberts 7-9-03, 11:28 AM
More on images as sources Joan B. Landes, 7-12-03,
2:33 PM
RE: More on images as sources Vivian Cameron
7-26-03, 4:22 PM

Subject: RE: images as sources (June 22, 2003)
Posted By: Barbara Day-Hickman
Date Posted: 6-22-03, 4:40 PM

The possession and display of visual art was, of course, a distinctive mark of status among bourgeois or aristocratic customers who could afford to purchase fine paintings, sculpture, and engravings. But visual imagery was also a primary medium of communication among commoners in Latin Catholic France. In addition to church hagiography that portrayed bishops, patrons, and local saints, sculptural art and relief work conveyed the basic tenets of Christian redemption for a widespread populace in both urban and provincial France. Similarly, secular prints, canards, and broadsides incorporated visual and symbolic formulae geared to inspire devotion, to convey a moral, to inform, entertain, or in some cases disconcert viewers with sensational stories of unbelievable horror. It stands to reason that the new revolutionary government would consider “secular” sculpture, rituals, and engravings to be an important way to memorialize and advertise the great events of the revolution. Consequently, it is incumbent upon those of us brought up in and around Protestant textual traditions to expand our research domain beyond the literary so as to treat visual evidence as a viable source of historical knowledge. But I would concur with Lynn that historians should consider images beyond the illustrative and instead treat visual material as legitimate historical documentation. I would likewise agree with Wayne that in addition to studying the evolution of themes, symbols and visual tropes, it is important to consider what may have been the motivation/purpose of the artist, the character of the designated audience, and how the image may have been read by contemporaries. The latter is a daunting task with anonymous and undated prints, but scholars can address a given interpretation by studying clusters of images on a given theme, or date such images by the technical style of the print or the costumes portrayed. Has anyone else found a better avenue to identify and interpret anonymous imagery?
 
 
 
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