Consummatum Est

Category

Library Item

Item no

33518

Title

Consummatum Est

Description

"Above all let us salute the glorious dead who sleep in the earth of France. Faithfully, piously, jealously, we shall guard them and keep their memory alive, because to us they are a testimony and a pledge. They fell in a foreign land - a far distant one for many of them - but they affirmed that the peoples beyond the sea came to fight side by side with us in the defence of liberty and civilization. If our sons in the generations to come should ever forget this, the dead will rise to recall to them this common duty. - Marshal Foch, at the Guildhall, 30th July 1919."

Artist / maker

Raemaekers, Louis

Date

1919

Size

34.0 x 25.1 cm

Type

Chromolithograph

Location

Art and Design Library

Copyright

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

The title of this work, 'Consummatum Est,' are Christ's last words upon the cross, meaning 'it is finished.' The crucifixion is a common composition in the history of art, and Raemaekers recreates it in a modern context. The depiction of an Allied soldier literally being crucified illustrates the ultimate sacrifice that millions of soldiers made during the war. The soldier's comparison to Christ also underscores the salvation of men, women, and children around the world due to his sacrifice. He died so they could live.

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

Clothing and dress > Garments > Uniforms

Events > Wars > World wars

People > Adults > Men

People > Military activities > Soldiers

Religion > Religious articles > Crosses