Wapentrofee 1820

Charles Pierre Joseph Normand made this print of a trophy of weapons. It’s from a period in France when the nation was obsessed with its own history, and the rise and fall of empires. The image presents us with a series of weapons, perhaps those taken from a defeated foe. But rather than simply displaying the tools of war, Normand renders them as ornamental objects. The images create meaning through a visual code that relates military strength to national prestige. France was undergoing major social upheaval and intense conflict at the time this print was made. The image is typical of its era, when artworks acted as powerful visual symbols in the construction of national identity. To find out more, you might consult journals and publications from the period, alongside institutional records of French museums. Art always speaks to the society and the institutions that produce and display it.