Le 21 juillet 

• 1915 
• Pauw, René de 
• Painting 
• Historical item 

6709223

Drawings / paintings

Le 21 juillet

31 x 23 cm

1915

Original watercolour cartoon on paper, around 1915, shows a man in the uniform of a Belgian soldier as ‘Manneken Pis’ urinating onto the head of a German soldier in the fountain in Brussels. Written in ink lower left is the caption ‘le clou de nos fètes nationales’ (the highlight of our public holidays). The date in the title, 21 July, is Belgian Nation Day, commemorating the start of the independent state of Belgium under a constitutional monarchy and parliament in 1831, particularly significant during the First World War when Belgium was under German occupation. It seems that De Pauw sold caricatures like this to rich patrons in order to support himself, and this would make sense as such a drawing could not have been published at the time, although owning such a work privately would be a symbol of Belgian resistance. Paper and image size 31 x 23 cm, in a simple (probably contemporary) wooden frame without mount, signed ‘René’ lower right, title and caption in ink in upper and lower borders. Some minor soiling, otherwise in very good condition.