Slaget på Reden 2. april 1801 1802 - 1805

Editor: So, here we have J.F. Clemens' print, "Slaget på Reden 2. april 1801," created between 1802 and 1805. It’s an engraving, and what immediately strikes me is how chaotic and yet strangely beautiful the scene is. What's your perspective on this work? Curator: The beauty, as you say, is indeed deceptive. While aesthetically compelling, this print depicts a moment of intense conflict, rooted in very specific political and economic power dynamics. The Battle of Copenhagen, which this print commemorates, needs to be understood within the context of the Napoleonic Wars. Denmark's neutrality was strategically valuable, and Britain's preemptive strike reflects a ruthless realpolitik. Consider whose stories are typically told in grand historical narratives versus whose are obscured or erased. Editor: So, it's less about a glorious victory and more about understanding power? How does the imagery itself contribute to that interpretation? Curator: Precisely. The print almost romanticizes war, framing it within landscape aesthetics, yet the thick smoke is indicative of conflict. How is the "grand" narrative of a sea battle complicit with structures of power? This image can be examined with current cultural conversations. How can we reframe history by highlighting its multiple intersectional perspectives and its colonial past? Editor: That makes me consider what is glorified by showing this as opposed to how such things affected other people. Thank you. Curator: Indeed. Consider this: this image prompts us to look critically at the art and its ability to participate in these power structures, perpetuating or critiquing established norms. It is not only the object itself but what the object signifies through political and socioeconomic discourse.