Militairen van verschillende regimenten / Militaires de differents régiments 1866 - 1902

Franciscus Antonius Beersmans made this print of soldiers from different regiments, sometime in the mid- to late-19th century. Beersmans was from Belgium, a country whose military history is long and complex, including periods of occupation by and alliance with its larger neighbors. This image, with its rows of figures and simple style, calls to mind the tradition of military illustration and documentation. It is a lithograph, a printmaking technique that allowed for relatively quick and inexpensive reproduction. This suggests that it was made for circulation among a wide audience. But, what was the function of the image? Was it intended as a training aid, a form of propaganda, or perhaps a souvenir for soldiers or their families? To answer these questions, we might turn to archives, libraries, and other collections that hold examples of similar images, and perhaps to period newspapers and magazines, for information about the social and cultural context in which it was made.