Kurassier 1785

Curator: This print from 1785 is entitled "Kurassier". It's unsigned, an engraving with watercolor touches, currently residing here at the Rijksmuseum. What are your first impressions? Editor: Immediately, I see power and restraint. The rearing horse is vibrant, yet the color palette feels muted. The soldier seems burdened by symbolic weight more than by his armor. Curator: Let's think about the "burden" of that armor for a moment, though. We know a Kurassier was a heavy cavalryman. Consider the iron being forged, the leather worked, the threads woven for such a figure. Every element screams craftsmanship and deliberate expense. These details suggest it was fabricated to communicate power through very tangible means. Editor: Yes, but observe how the anonymous artist chose to depict him. He isn't charging or engaged in glorious battle, is he? This image presents the soldier, not as an aggressor but as an icon. That upward angle of the sword? A visual marker of authority, signaling vigilance rather than imminent action. The horse frozen mid-gallop, tail dragging. Curator: The way you read the stasis intrigues me, when to a degree there is obvious movement and muscular engagement in the horse. Yet this artistic production of stasis reflects very specific ideas around manufacture. There's the precise layering of engraving, then the hand application of watercolor tints. It almost seems that assembly line aesthetics were being toyed with. How could this influence production of the image? What message do you think it creates? Editor: Perhaps the repetition hints at the ever-present military institution. The lion rampant on the soldier’s breastplate could reference valor but maybe also a tradition weighed down with symbolism. Curator: I'd say it’s an impressive reminder that even seemingly simple images are densely packed with reflections of production, manufacture and history that influence our understandings. Editor: And perhaps in looking deeper we see how symbols persist through time, their meanings shifting, their presence an echo of our shared past.