Tennis Court Oath

On 20 June 1789 the deputies of the Third Estate found their hall at Versailles locked and guarded, so they crowded into an indoor tennis court nearby and swore not to separate until France had a constitution. David took on the job of painting it the following year, to be paid for by public subscription. The subscription brought in about a tenth of what was needed, politics moved faster than he could work, and several of the men he had drawn cheering were dead or disgraced within four years. The huge canvas at Versailles was left half blank. This smaller painted version at the Musée Carnavalet, bought by the museum in 1884, follows David's composition closely, though the museum itself calls it probably a copy after his ink-and-wash drawing rather than his own hand. Bailly, the president of the Assembly, stands on the table with his arm up, reading out the oath.