Half-Battalion of the Left... Aim!... Fire!... Charge 1837

Curator: Raffet's "Half-Battalion of the Left... Aim!... Fire!... Charge" plunges us right into the thick of battle; a lithograph capturing a moment, perhaps at Waterloo. Editor: It's a real scene of carnage, isn't it? You can almost smell the gunpowder etched into the paper. I can't help but focus on the cannon; such brutal tools fashioned so carefully, used to manufacture destruction on an unimaginable scale. Curator: The beauty of Raffet's line work makes the destruction almost bearable, even elegant. Don't you think that contrast between form and content underscores the strangeness of war itself? Editor: Elegant? Maybe. But I see the labor, the mining, the smelting, the hauling... the human cost embedded in that iron. War isn't elegant; it's just industry with a PR problem. Curator: Well, maybe we can agree that it’s a haunting piece, and a testament to Raffet's skill in capturing such chaos. Editor: Indeed, it makes you reflect on what we choose to memorialize—the battles, not the burden.