In response to the tumultuous political events of the French Revolution, Aubert Parent created this allegory of the French monarchy and the drafting of the new constitution by the National Assembly. On September 14, 1791, Louis XVI took an oath to support the new political regime. Parent's relief, carved from a single piece of limewood, links a medallion of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, symbolizing the French king, with a medallion of the Roman Senate, representing the National Assembly. The dead bird (the old regime) and the unguarded nest (France) symbolize the failure of the new constitution and the end of the monarchy.