Aanwijzing voor de Plaat voorstellende een gezigt op de Stad Antwerpen den Morgen van den 28 October 1830 1832

This anonymous print captures Antwerp on the morning of October 28, 1830, rendered in delicate lines. The work serves as a battlefield map during the Belgian Revolution, a moment of profound cultural and political upheaval as the country sought independence from the Netherlands. We see not just a landscape, but a stage upon which national identity was violently contested. The artist, though unnamed, situates us amidst the Dutch forces, offering a view that implicitly takes their side. What does it mean to document conflict, especially when your perspective is already woven into the fabric of power? The numbered figures invite us to analyze, to dissect the power dynamics at play. Consider what is absent: the voices and perspectives of the Belgian revolutionaries. This absence speaks volumes about the narratives that are privileged in historical records, and how those narratives shape our understanding of the past. This image serves as a stark reminder that history is rarely neutral.