In this allegorical scene, the French queen Marie Antoinette walks among classical ruins that represent the aristocratic regime toppled by the French Revolution. She is about to place a winged heart, symbolizing the nobility, on an altar, next to two flaming hearts that represent the clergy and the commonalty. These were the three political orders of the state. This diorama was made to mark the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, which triggered the French Revolution. On July 14, 1789, the Bastille, a Paris fortress that was used as a prison, was captured by revolutionaries. Exactly one year later, the Gazette Universelle reported that a crowd of 300,000 people had gathered at the Champs de Mars in Paris to celebrate the "Fête of the Federation." A huge tableau and an elevated altar were erected in the center of the field. Here, the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution, took the oath in the name of the Federates, uniting the French and their king. Then King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, and the young dauphin Louis swore to uphold the constitution decreed by the Assembly. The diorama was undoubtedly commissioned by a Royalist client. Pierre Haly, who created the scene, was a member of a famous dynasty of lampworkers from Nevers in central France. He must have made the diorama shortly after the gathering at the Champs de Mars and before the royal family’s failed attempt to escape to Austria in 1791. Following their capture, they were imprisoned and executed.