Soldaat der Kompagnie Werklieden (Ambulance) 1835 - 1850

Albertus Verhoesen created this watercolor of a soldier of the Ambulance Company. He stands with sword in hand, one arm extended, pointing. The gesture of pointing, seemingly simple, carries a heavy semiotic load through time. We see it echoed in Renaissance art where figures like John the Baptist point towards divine revelation. Here, however, the soldier points to the battlefield, a space of earthly conflict. The gesture then shifts from spiritual guidance to temporal direction, mirroring the shift from religious to secular authority. This subtle yet significant change resonates with the psychological undercurrents of societal change, reflecting how symbols adapt to new contexts and collective experiences, revealing a continuous dialogue between the past and the present. The motif of direction, charged with the burden of history, appears again and again, a testament to the non-linear, cyclical progression of symbols.