15th -20th century · ordinance, surrender and lived war

Uccello, Velázquez, Géricault and Nevinson make the soldier evolve from battle geometry to surrender, wounded withdrawal and then anonymous rhythm of the trenches.

The painting of soldiers changes with the very conception of war. In The Battle of San Romano, Paolo Uccello orders confrontation by spears, horses and shortcuts: perspective transforms chaos into demonstration. Velazquez's The Surrender of Bréda shifts heroism towards the meeting between victor and vanquished; Spinola's gesture prevents Nassau from kneeling and gives victory an image of political magnanimity. Géricault paints a wounded Cuirassier leaving the fire: instead of the triumphant charge, man and horse descend into uncertainty. Géricault paints a wounded Cuirassier leaving the fire: instead of the triumphal charge, man and horse descend into uncertainty. After the First World War, CRW Nevinson shows the Return to the Trenches as an almost body cadence mechanized. The soldier moves from the named hero to collective and repetitive experience. The "Soldiers" selection notably compares The Battle of San Romano, Niccolo da Tolentino and The Surrender of Breda. His reading favors space.

The history of military painting can be read in what it chooses to hide: the chaos behind order, the violence behind courtesy, then the individual behind cadence.