Huit Tableaux: Art and Politics in Nineteenth-Century France (1799-1871)
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| MLAC2117 | Modern Languages and Cultures | 2 | 10 | Spring UK |
- Code
- MLAC2117
- School
- Modern Languages and Cultures
- Level
- 2
- Credits
- 10
- Semesters
- Spring UK
Summary
The module examines the course of French history from the creation of the Republican Consulate under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799 to the Paris Commune of1871. Through a chronological series of lectures using eight more or less well-known works of art (principally painting but also sculpture) as a platform for exploring political choices and change, the module will trace how a succession of regimes struggled and failed to have done with the Revolution, as well as tackling issues of national identity, religion and political culture. Among the Huit tableaux are David's Sacre de Napoléon and Delacroix's La Liberté guidant le peuple.
Target Students
Available to SH and JH UG students taking French as part of their plan. Not available in the Autumn semester to students taking MLAC2145. Available to Liberal Arts and subsidiary students who have taken MLAC1150.
Co-requisites
Modules you must take in the same academic year, or have taken in a previous year, to enrol in this module:
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks
- One 1-hour lecture each week for 11 weeks
The School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies operates an attendance policy. The details of this policy can be found in the student handbook on Workspace and in module handbooks.
Assessment
- 100% Exam (2-hour)
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
The module aims to provide students in Modern Languages with a good understanding of a pivotal phase of modern French history. It will help students to understand debates over the organisation of the state, over the place of religion and over national identity. Above all, the module aims to help students appreciate the interaction between art and politics in the ‘short’ French 19th century. It will also develop students’ skills in reading and interpreting particular forms of art and its purpose.Learning Outcomes
A. Knowledge and Understanding
- The nature of successive political regimes in France between 1799 and 1871 (A4, A6)
- How post-Revolutionary conflicts were resolved or remained unresolved and how they have been interpreted (A2, A4, A6)
- The motives and ideologies of certain political, social and religious groups in France (A2, A4, A6)
- Insights into the nineteenth century from the perspective of political, cultural and social history (A4, A6)
- Insight into the use of iconography in building national consensus (A1, A3, A4, A6)
B. Intellectual skills
- An ability to think critically and imaginatively about political systems and about iconography (A4, A6, B3)
- Reading and interpretative skills appropriate to an understanding of the period (B1-4)
- Ability to read and evaluate primary and secondary texts (B2, B3, B5)
- An ability to develop and defend arguments in discussion and in writing (B6-8)
C. Professional/practical skills
- Use and understand varieties of written French (A1, C1)
- Operate effectively between sources in French and those in English
- Write accurately and grammatically and present work within fixed parameters and according to a set of academic conventions (C6)
- Use IT to access materials for the critical analysis of images (D8)
D. Transferable skills
- The ability to collect and rationalize data in an effective manner (D2)
- The ability to construct and communicate a sustained analysis of historical data in writing (D1)
- The ability to define problems and find strategies to resolve them (D3)
- To work productively independently (D4)
- To organise time and manage deadlines (D7)
Conveners
- Dr Paul Eric Adrian Smith