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Commemorating the story of independence: French and American representations of the American Revolution and independence

Par Aurore Portet : PRAG - Sciences Po Lyon
Publié par Reda Boulkhiam le 03/10/2025

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[Conférence] As part of the event “Celebrating US Independence in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes”, organized by the DRAREIC of the Académie de Lyon, Aurore Portet analyses the ways archetypes are created through visual representation and the three waves of pictorial representations of the American Revolution.

The other lectures given as part of the event “Celebrating US Independence in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes” are available on la Clé des langues: 

  • Some ambiguities behind the birth of the United States of America, Guillaume Odin (forthcoming)
  • Le Premier Amendement de la Constitution des États-Unis : les libertés contre l’État, Vincent Michelot (forthcoming)
  • Les femmes dans la Révolution américaine, Agnès Delahaye.

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video_chapitree  
Introduction 00:00

1. Figures of the American Revolution

  • Redcoat villains
 01:05
  • The figure of the Patriot
 04:20
2. Creating archetypes through paintings: example of the French Revolution 08:15
3. Famous Revolutionary War paintings 11:08

4. Painting the American Revolution at the end of the 18th century

  • Allegories
 14:00
  • Portraits
 16:52
  • Paintings of war scenes
 18:59

5. Painting the American Revolution at the beginning of the 19th century: The Declaration of Independence, by John Trumbull

  • The 1819 version (displayed in the U.S. Capitol rotunda)
 22:55
  • The original painting, 1786-1820
 24:58
6. Painting the American Revolution in the 1840s and 1850s: the revival period 27:02
  • Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutze (1851)
 28:06
  • La prise de Yorktown, by Louis Auguste Couder (1836)
 29:24
Conclusion 31:34

Download the Power Point of the lecture [PDF]

Pour citer cette ressource :

Aurore Portet, Commemorating the story of independence: French and American representations of the American Revolution and independence, La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), octobre 2025. Consulté le 05/10/2025. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/civilisation/domaine-americain/commemorating-the-story-of-independence-french-and-american-representations-of-the-american-revolution