Strijdende soldaten te paard c. 1871 - 1876

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of fighting soldiers on horseback with pencil on paper. Breitner was working in the Netherlands during a period of rapid social and political change. We can consider how the image creates meaning through visual codes. What does it mean to represent a scene of war? The artist may have been interested in capturing the dynamism and chaos of battle. The relatively loose sketch style contributes to a sense of spontaneity. Breitner was working at a time when Dutch society was grappling with questions of national identity and military power. Was he glorifying war, or making a more ambiguous comment on the role of the military in Dutch society? To understand Breitner’s work better, we can research the period in which he was working and consider the kinds of cultural and political debates that were taking place at the time. Art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.