How do I analyse picture sources at History GCSE/A-level?

It can feel really intimidating when you come across a historical image or drawing in an exam - unlike a text extract, you can’t directly quote from it, which can make it seem less accessible to analyse. However, it can be a blessing in disguise because it forces you to work analysis into your answer rather than just copying out bits of a text, and means you’ll automatically consider it and its message as a whole before zoning in on details. As always with primary sources (first-hand material from the era you’re studying), it’s important to think about who created the image, who they wanted to see it, and why. Think about how different a bill-board advert is to a friend drawing on the corner of your folder referencing an in-joke. In both cases you’re the audience, but for the ad you’re just a small part of the audience while the drawing is specifically for you, and the two have very different purposes of getting you to buy something or getting you to laugh! Meanwhile, a royal Tudor painting would have a completely different set of people looking at it to propaganda encouraging men to enlist during World War I, although both might have an element of encouraging respect for authority. Just like a text, you can references specific parts of an image: look systematically at any people or objects represented, at what the background is like, and at any text or blurbs that come with it. You can then use your knowledge of the historical period to do some detective-work and figure out if it’s referencing a particular person, event, or cultural issue. Images can sometimes be more powerful and emotive than texts, which makes them fun! For example, you might get a caricature (like a sassy, exaggerated portrait) of a politician printed in a newspaper, that shows us what the illustrator thinks of them and encourages readers of the publication to take them less seriously. It’s really important to think about any differences between the image and the real object or event that it is depicting, or showing. Often, images tell us more about the illustrator or photographer’s perspective than the facts. For example, a cartoon that shows suffragettes as ugly hags is unlikely to agree with them - you can conclude the author was against votes for women! But don’t worry if the message doesn’t seem as clearcut - the most important thing is to try and get in the mindset of the period and think about how it would have been perceived then, and considering different possible interpretations can help you reach the nuanced level of assessment necessary to achieve a top grade.