Study for The Battle of Waterloo c. 1824

This is a study in graphite on paper made by Jan Willem Pieneman in the 19th century. It shows a preliminary sketch for his painting of The Battle of Waterloo, depicting the Duke of Wellington receiving the Prince of Orange after defeating Napoleon. The final painting, which hangs in the same museum, was commissioned to commemorate the victory and promote national unity in the newly formed Kingdom of the Netherlands. But in this study, we can see Pieneman working out the composition and the placement of the figures, with a mass of soldiers, horses, and fallen bodies creating a sense of chaos and movement. The artist's intention was to capture the heroic moment of victory, but it also reminds us of the human cost of war. The study can reveal a lot about the artist's process and the political context in which he was working. By looking at sketches like this, as well as letters, newspaper accounts, and other historical sources, we can better understand the social and cultural forces that shaped the art of the time.