Notenkraker trekt zijn sabel voor een groep poppen 1898

Willem Wenckebach rendered this drawing, ‘Nutcracker Draws His Saber Before a Group of Dolls’, with pencil. Notice the tension between the Nutcracker, with his raised saber, and the seemingly frightened dolls. The Nutcracker embodies strength, his military attire a symbol of order, which goes back to ancient Roman depictions of soldiers. The dolls, with their varied expressions, evoke a sense of vulnerability. This dynamic echoes the eternal dance between order and chaos found in art across centuries. Think of Renaissance depictions of Saint George slaying the dragon: the hero, like our Nutcracker, confronts a perceived threat, a group of beings, with an ambivalent expression, embodying the subconscious human need to impose control over the unknown. The cyclical nature of history ensures that symbols like these reappear, adapted and reinterpreted, always reflecting the anxieties and aspirations of their time.