In 1788 King Louis XVI facing a drastic financial crisis called for a meeting, on 5 May 1789, of the Etats Gènèraux, a medieval form of assembly gathering the representatives of the three feudal orders: nobility, clergy and commons, the latter called Tiers Etat. Each order voted as one group, placing the Tiers Etat in a permanent state of minority. So archaic was its structure that the monarchy had not assembled the Etats Gènèraux since 1614. It quickly became evident that no reform could come out of the proceeding. The Tiers Etat, representing 98 percent of the population soon challenged the nobility and clergy. To release some of the political tension the King decided to close for redecoration the room at the Menus Plaisirs where the assembly deliberated in order to prepare for a royal visit. The Tiers Etat enraged by this manoeuvre bypassed the order and on the advice of Doctor Guillotin, assembled at the tennis court near the Menus Plaisirs. There, a resolution was adopted according to which the Tiers Etat declared itself a national assembly, the purpose of which was to draw up a constitution for the kingdom. No power could in any way prevent the assembly from deliberating. These resolutions were sworn in the middle of the acclamations from the crowd.

This historic event is now most commonly known through the celebrated drawing by Jacques-Louis David ehibited at the salon of 1791, now at Versailles. The speed of political events prevented the completion of David's picture. It is probable that the present drawing inspired David. The general disposition of the figures and the group of Martin Dauch, on the extreme left, as well as the figure of the lady with two children on the gallery in this drawing indicate that David knew the composition. If the naive but truthful quality of this drawing has been supplanted by David's composition, this was not the case during the years of the revolution. The popularity of the engraving made after the present drawing led the publisher, Le Vacher in 1791 to plagiarize the engraving to serve as the frontispiece to one of the main collections of the engraved portraits of important figures of the revolution. Two years after the present drawing was engraved the subscription organized by David to have his own version of the Serment de Jeu de Paume engraved was still not fully underwritten. In November 1793 David's engraving was finally undertaken at a loss.

The present drawing depicts faithfully the interior of the Jeu de Paume. The walls of the tennis court were painted black to allow players to see the balls better. The room was 96 feet long and 32 feet wide. A gallery ran down three sides of while a seven bay window flanked either side of the room.