THE INVENTION OF THE MASSES: The Crowd in French Culture from the Revolution to the Commune

They are many. The fi gures in Jacques-Louis David’s The Tennis Court Oath (Le Serment du Jeu de Paume) are spread out, lined up, piled on top of each other, cramped together, their bodies suggesting sheer quantity (fi g. 2.1). The ones who wave and peek through the large windows high on the walls extend the assembly beyond the depicted hall. It is impossible to tell where this human aggregation begins or ends. The national assembly of France spills over the frame and fl ows out across the entire fi eld of vision.