Laatste uitweg voor Willem I, 1830 1830 - 1831

This anonymous print from 1830 depicts a critical moment of Dutch history. We see King William I with one of his officers, stranded near the sea, with soldiers behind them and a sign directing them to Flessingue. The pointing gesture—here directing towards a ship sailing away, hinting at escape or defeat, evokes a long lineage of symbolic meaning, reaching back to classical antiquity. We see it, for example, in depictions of Alexander the Great, leading his troops onward, or even in religious iconography, where a pointing figure directs the viewer towards divine truth. Yet here, the gesture carries with it the weight of despair; what was once assertive is now a sign of retreat. It speaks volumes about the psychological state of a nation facing fragmentation. This same gesture will reappear, re-coded, time and time again, whether in propaganda or personal expressions of power and defeat, each time colored by the specific anxieties of the age.