Slag van Waterloo / Bataille de Waterloo 1800 - 1833

Curator: This print, entitled "Slag van Waterloo / Bataille de Waterloo," was created by Philippus Jacobus Brepols between 1800 and 1833. It's a lithograph, depicting the Battle of Waterloo in a rather unusual style. Editor: My initial reaction is that it looks almost like a storyboard or an early comic strip. The composition is broken down into six separate scenes, each quite small, printed in rather crude colours – predominantly blues and reds. It strikes me as very naive. Curator: Indeed! Its comic, almost folkloric style speaks to how collective memory shapes and simplifies complex historical events into digestible narratives. The battle becomes a set of easily understood images: movement, flag-bearing, Napoleon fleeing. It’s the drama boiled down into accessible iconography. Editor: I see what you mean, yet that reduction also intrigues me. Each square contains only a few elements, isolated figures, a doorway... everything seems rather detached. Structurally, these boxes function as frames isolating each aspect of the event almost clinically. The minimal color reinforces this. It lacks dynamism somehow. Curator: Perhaps, but I would suggest its power rests precisely in that detachment. By stripping away excessive detail, Brepols creates enduring archetypes. The flags, the uniforms, Napoleon’s retreat... these are symbols deeply etched in our cultural understanding of heroism, defeat, and turning points in history. The repetition underscores their power. Editor: You’re drawing my eye back. Now I see the arrangement, and this visual repetition indeed allows certain semiotic features such as Napoleon to emerge from chaos in the depicted clash between order and disorder. There's a tension between art and message within the panels and the total piece. Curator: Precisely. This print highlights the process by which battles become national mythologies. The somewhat rudimentary drawing style almost amplifies its wide distribution in popular culture, far removed from battlefield horror. Editor: Yes. And considered now, its structural simplicity gives these symbolic acts even greater resonance and longevity. I may see beyond its primitivism now.