Trommel met Nederlandse leeuw en fluit before 1828

Pierre Félix van Doren created this drawing of a drum with a Dutch Lion and flute, sometime between the late 18th and mid-19th century. Van Doren, born in the recently revolutionary Dutch state, would have grown up in a society undergoing major shifts in national identity. This drawing, with its focus on national and military symbols, speaks to a moment in which visual culture was used to solidify and celebrate a new national consciousness. The lion on the drum represents the Dutch national animal, and the presence of a flute suggests military music and order. But who did this new national identity include? The drum and flute may have carried very different associations for those excluded from full citizenship, such as women or people of color in Dutch colonies. The drawing invites us to reflect on the power of symbols to both unite and exclude, to consider the relationship between national pride and the lived experiences of all people.