The Promise

Category

Library Item

Item no

32977

Title

The Promise

Description

"We shall never sheathe the sword until Belgium recovers all, and more than all that she has sacrificed. - Mr. Asquith, 9 November 1914."

Artist / maker

Raemaekers, Louis

Date

1916

Size

34.7 x 24.9 cm

Type

Chromolithograph

Location

Art and Design Library

Copyright

Louis Raemaekaers' drawings are reproduced by kind permission of the Louis Raemaekers Foundation.

The women in this cartoon symbolise England and Belgium. Belgium, chained and confined to a cage, is comforted by England with her mighty sword and ornate helmet. The title 'A Promise' refers to English Prime Minister H. H. Asquith's promise to fight on Belgium's behalf following its invasion by German forces in August 1914. Female allegories of the fighting countries appear repeatedly in Raemaekers' cartoons, standing in for the state of the nation as a whole.

The Louis Raemaekers Foundation have published a book of his works entitled, 'Louis Raemaekers - with pen and pencil as a weapon'.

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Related subjects

Crime and punishment > Crime and punishment facilities > Prisons

Events > Wars > World wars

Military > Arms and armament > Daggers and swords

People > Adults > Women

Places > Europe > Belgium