How did people visualise their nations?

1. Artists in the 18th and 19th centuries found a way of personifying a nation and portraying them as female figures. It was to give an abstract idea of the nation, a concrete form.
   
2. The female figure became an allegory of the nation.
   
3. The French Revolution artists used the female allegory to portray ideas such as Liberty, Justice, and the Republic.
   
4. In France she was christened Marianne, a popular Christian name. Her characteristics were drawn from those of Liberty and the Republic – the Red cap, the tri-color, the cockade. Marianne images were marked on coins and stamps.
   
5. Germania became the allegory of the German nation. In visual representations, Germania wears a crown of oak leaves as the German oak stands for heroism.