Slag bij Kamperduin (1797): aanval door de Britse vloot 1798

Robert Dodd’s engraving depicts the naval Battle of Kamperduin, a British victory in 1797. Dominating the scene are the British flags, symbols of power and assertion. Flags have long served as potent emblems of national identity and dominance, tracing back to ancient Roman vexillum. A similar impulse drives their repeated display in this scene, where they also signal military prowess and political ambition. Think, for example, of the symbolic weight carried by the flags of conquest in Delacroix’s iconic painting, Liberty Leading the People. Here, Dodd's image captures a moment of intense national fervor, where each flag hoisted becomes a psychological assertion of British strength. It speaks to a collective memory of naval achievements, engaging viewers on a subconscious level with notions of national pride and historical destiny. The cyclical nature of such symbols is evident in their persistent re-emergence, each time imbued with new layers of meaning, echoing through history, and resurfacing in different contexts.