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French Revolution Drawing Ideas for a History Project

One symbol, dated event, person or cartoon from the French Revolution, with the fact to get right.

French Revolution Drawing Ideas for a History Project

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  1. A young liberty tree planted in a village squareLiberty trees were mostly new-planted live trees. The first went up in 1790, in a village.

Next step More single objects with their basic shapes

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Symbols 14

  • A decimal clock dial numbered one to ten Decimal time gave the day ten hours. Ten numerals around the dial and the usual two hands.
  • A red liberty cap hanging on a hook The soft red cap with its tip pulled forward became a sign of freedom in the Revolution.
  • A republican almanac page for Brumaire, the misty month The calendar of 1793 to 1805 renamed the months. Brumaire, from the word for mist, began in late October.
  • A signal tower with jointed arms on its roof The optical telegraph, invented in France in 1792, passed messages from tower to tower by moving arms.
  • A stone model of the Bastille on a table A builder named Palloy had models of the fortress made from its own stones. Eight round towers.
  • A young liberty tree planted in a village square Liberty trees were mostly new-planted live trees. The first went up in 1790, in a village.
  • An assignat: a paper banknote with a printed border Paper money issued from 1789 to 1796, at first backed by property the nation had taken over.
  • The big iron key of the Bastille fortress Lafayette gave George Washington the key in 1790. A long shank, a ring bow, a toothed bit.
  • The Declaration of the Rights of Man on two tablets Adopted on 26 August 1789, in 17 articles. Two round-topped tablets, rows of small writing.
  • The first bars of the French anthem on a sheet of music La Marseillaise was written in 1792 in Strasbourg and adopted as the anthem on 14 July 1795.
  • The French flag in three upright bands of color A vertical tricolor of blue, white and red, adopted on 15 February 1794. Rule two lines and fill three bands.
  • Liberty, equality, fraternity lettered on a tricolor sash Liberté, égalité, fraternité: liberty, equality, fraternity. One word on each band of the sash.
  • Marianne in profile wearing a liberty cap A woman who stands for the French Republic. In September 1792 a figure like her went on the state seal.
  • The tricolor cockade: three rings of blue, white and red Paris wore blue and red; white was added in July 1789 for the king. Three rings around a button.

Events in order 14

  • A calendar leaf lettered 18 Brumaire 9 November 1799, the 18th of Brumaire in the republican calendar: the date given for the Revolution's end.
  • A crown set down beside a paper dated 1792 21 September 1792: the Convention proclaimed the monarchy abolished. The First Republic followed.
  • A door sign changed to read National Assembly 17 June 1789: the Third Estate took the name National Assembly. One word crossed out, two added.
  • A festival field ringed with crowds and flags 14 July 1790: the Fête de la Fédération on the Champ de Mars, a year after the Bastille fell.
  • A heavy coach with six horses on a night road The night of 20 to 21 June 1791: the royal family fled Paris in disguise and were stopped at Varennes.
  • A royal coach escorted into Paris by a huge crowd 6 October 1789: the crowd brought the royal family from Versailles to Paris, to the Tuileries.
  • A speaker on a table under the trees of a palace garden 12 July 1789: a speech at the Palais Royal roused Paris. The first cockades were green leaves.
  • The Bastille and its eight towers on 14 July 14 July 1789: the fortress fell to a Paris crowd. Draw the building itself, eight round towers in a block.
  • Market women with baskets on the road to a palace 5 October 1789: women from the Paris markets marched to Versailles over the high price of bread.
  • Museum doors opening on a long gallery of paintings 10 August 1793: the Louvre opened as a museum with an exhibition of 537 paintings.
  • Nobles piling up scrolls of their privileges at night The night of 4 August 1789: the Assembly voted to abolish feudalism. Candles, a table, a heap of scrolls.
  • Raised right arms in an indoor tennis court 20 June 1789, the Tennis Court Oath: locked out of their hall, the deputies swore not to disband.
  • The three estates walking in to the opening at Versailles 5 May 1789: the Estates General opened, the first since 1614. Clergy, nobles and commoners in three blocks.
  • Workers carting stones away from the Bastille After 14 July 1789 the fortress was demolished. Carts, ropes, a wall with its top already gone.

People 14

  • A market woman of Paris with a basket on her arm Women of the markets began the march to Versailles in October 1789. An apron, a cap, a wide basket.
  • A sans-culotte in long trousers, clogs and a red cap Working people wore long trousers, not the silk knee breeches of the upper classes; hence the name.
  • Bailly with one hand raised and a telescope beside him An astronomer who presided over the Tennis Court Oath and was mayor of Paris from 1789 to 1791.
  • Lafayette holding out a cockade As commander of the National Guard he is said to have added the white band to the blue and red.
  • Louis XVI at a locksmith's bench The king was encouraged in locksmithing from boyhood. A vise, a file, a lock with its plate off.
  • Louis XVI fixing the new cockade to his hat 17 July 1789: on a visit to Paris the king put the cockade on his hat. A hat, a hand, three rings.
  • Marie Antoinette at her hamlet in the palace park In 1783 the queen had a hamlet built at Versailles as a rustic retreat. Small cottages, a garden fence.
  • Mirabeau the orator replying to a royal messenger A writer and orator, 1749 to 1791. He told the king's envoy the deputies sat by the will of the people.
  • Necker with an open account book The finance minister who made the royal accounts public in 1781. He was dismissed on 11 July 1789.
  • Olympe de Gouges writing at a desk A playwright. In 1791 she published a Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen.
  • The painter David sketching a hall full of deputies Jacques-Louis David pictured the Tennis Court Oath and is named as designer of the tricolor flag.
  • Robespierre at a speaker's stand with a sheaf of notes A lawyer, born in Arras in 1758. Draw the neat coat and the papers, and keep the face simple.
  • Rouget de Lisle writing a song by candlelight He composed La Marseillaise at Strasbourg in April 1792. A quill, a candle, ruled music paper.
  • Sieyès holding a thin pamphlet His pamphlet of January 1789 asked: What is the Third Estate? Its answer was one word, everything.

Cartoons and projects 14

  • A bar chart of the deputies of the three estates The Third Estate had about as many deputies as the clergy and nobles together: roughly 600 against 300 and 300.
  • A chart of the price of bread climbing off the page The high price of bread set off the women's march of October 1789. One loaf, one rising line.
  • A cockade of your own in three colors you choose The Paris cockade joined the city's blue and red to the king's white. Say what each of yours stands for.
  • A map of France cut into departments In 1790 departments replaced the old provinces. Draw the outline first, then divide it into small pieces.
  • A newspaper front page for 15 July 1789 Report the fall of the Bastille the day after: a masthead, a headline, a small picture of eight towers.
  • A notebook page of grievances from one village In early 1789 each estate drew up cahiers, lists of grievances. Write three in a villager's voice.
  • A peasant carrying a noble and a priest on his back The Third Estate carried the other two: the clergy were the First Estate, the nobles the Second.
  • A poster calling Paris to the festival of 14 July 1790 Advertise the Fête de la Fédération on the Champ de Mars. A big date, three colors, a crowd.
  • A ring of twelve republican months with a seasonal icon each The republican calendar named months for the seasons, such as Vendémiaire for the grape harvest.
  • A seesaw with a crown on one end and a crowd on the other Who holds power, the king or the nation? Tip the plank toward the crowd for the years after 1789.
  • A timeline strip from 1789 to 1799 The Revolution is dated 5 May 1789 to 9 November 1799. Mark the two ends, then five dates between.
  • A voting chart: one vote per estate or one per head Nobles and clergy wanted to vote by estate; the Third Estate wanted voting by head. Show both counts.
  • The flight to Varennes told as a comic strip of four scenes One, leaving the Tuileries by night; two, the coach; three, the stop at Varennes; four, the road back.
  • Three questions and three answers lettered as a poster From the 1789 pamphlet: What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been? Nothing.

How it works

These French Revolution drawing ideas run from the cockade of July 1789 to the calendar leaf of 18 Brumaire, ten years later. Each names a real symbol, event or person and gives its date or one checked fact.

Read the full guide

Four groups for one history project

Symbols are single objects: the cockade, the red cap, a clock dial with ten hours. Events in order gives dated scenes, from the opening at Versailles on 5 May 1789 to 18 Brumaire. People are known by what they hold: a pamphlet, a telescope, an account book. Cartoons and projects are whole assignments, such as a newspaper front page.

Draw the building, not the fight

The Bastille is drawn as a fortress of eight towers and as stones being carted away after 14 July. The Tennis Court Oath is a hall of raised right arms. An event reads from its place, its date and one object.

  • Date every event drawing. A coach at night becomes the flight to Varennes once it says June 1791.
  • For a person, draw the object first: Bailly is a telescope and a raised hand before he is a face.

Questions and answers

What are the symbols of the French Revolution?

The tricolor cockade of blue, white and red, the red liberty cap, the liberty tree, the motto liberty, equality, fraternity, and Marianne, the woman who stands for the Republic. All of them are in the Symbols group.

When did the French Revolution start and end?

It is dated from the opening of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 to the 18 Brumaire coup of 9 November 1799. On 14 July 1789 the Bastille fell.

What is the easiest French Revolution drawing?

The cockade: three rings of blue, white and red around a button. A clock dial numbered one to ten and a crown set down beside a dated paper are nearly as simple.

What was the Tennis Court Oath?

On 20 June 1789 the deputies of the Third Estate, locked out of their hall, met in an indoor tennis court at Versailles and swore not to disband until France had a constitution.

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