This is Thomas Annan's photographic reproduction of an engraving of Sir George Harvey's painting, "Examination of a Village School." The scene brims with potent symbolism, as authority is a key concept in the architecture of this image. We see the examiner as a patriarchal figure, both literally and figuratively overlooking the scene from a stage. The gesture of the children in the foreground mimics that of supplication seen in religious iconography through the ages, such as Renaissance paintings of the Madonna. Like religious imagery, the presentation of education here transcends the simple subject of the image and becomes intertwined with moral and even spiritual concepts. The composition of the scene evokes a strong feeling of reverence, and the symbolic weight carried by the image links to a deep, perhaps subconscious, desire for knowledge.