Broadside with 24 scenes showing the Catalan soldiers arriving in Cuba to quell the rebellion

Art Historical Context

This broadside, created by Antonio Bosch shortly after 1868, presents twenty-four sequential scenes documenting the arrival of Catalan soldiers in Cuba. Produced as a lithographic reproduction of an etching, the print format allowed for affordable, wide distribution of visual news during a period of political tension. The sheet captures the deployment of Spanish forces sent to suppress the early stages of Cuba’s independence movement, known as the Ten Years’ War. The composition includes images of trains and railways, uniformed soldiers, women witnessing the events, and the Spanish coat of arms, reflecting both the logistics of troop movement and the symbolic assertion of colonial authority. Such broadsides served as popular visual chronicles, bringing distant military actions into everyday view for audiences in Spain and its territories. Bosch’s use of multiple narrative vignettes guides viewers through the soldiers’ journey and reception, blending reportage with patriotic messaging. Today the work offers insight into nineteenth-century print culture and the role of graphic media in shaping public understanding of colonial conflicts.