Twee soldaten te paard 1821 - 1827

Johannes Mock made this small etching, Two Soldiers on Horseback, in the Netherlands sometime in the first half of the 19th century. The image seems simple enough, two soldiers in uniform on horseback. But the question for the historian is, what does it tell us about Dutch society at the time? Military imagery has a long history in the Netherlands, think of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. Military service could be a path to social mobility. But consider the role of the Dutch military in the colonies, particularly in Indonesia. These were the years of the Java War and the Padri War. Is this image a comment on the colonial project? Or is it a comment on the role of the military in domestic affairs? To answer these questions, we can look at military records, colonial archives, and newspaper articles from the time. Ultimately, art helps us understand the social and institutional context in which it was made.