My recent assessment (read, not my exam) came back in the post today, and surprisingly, it's the highest mark i've achieved since my 'higher education' started two years ago. For obvious reasons I have to refrain from posting the actual result, but with my exam resit now out of the way i'm incredibly pleased with the end grade, and hey, there's nothing better than success, right?

The assignment was to write a detailed commentary of The Battle of Austerlitz by the French painter François Gerard, and to evaluate, if any, the propagandist function that the painting had. Discussing the composition was good because it's something i've been doing since high school and regularly enjoy doing, but the second part of the question I found slightly baffling. I felt though that given the bad press surrounding Napoleon at that time, the painting did have a hidden agenda of promoting him in a positive light, and in a role of someone who was a hero. My tutor was impressed overall with my attempt, but deducted points from me for my discussion of Napoleon himself, saying that I was "a little hard on Napoleon towards the end of the essay". It's something I won't disagree with of course, because from what i've read I do have a very negative impression of him and his war-hungry attitude, but all the same, maybe those feelings and ideas should've been vented here and not in the essay.