Drie soldaten en de geest van Van Speyk

About this artwork

: ‘Op steen / getekend door / den onderge / tekende / Amsterdam / den 21 Mey / 1831 / R vd Meulen’

Art Historical Context

This 1831 lithograph by Dutch artist Roelof van der Meulen captures a dramatic moment tied to the Belgian Revolution. Titled *Drie soldaten en de geest van Van Speyk* (“Three Soldiers and the Spirit of Van Speyk”), the print depicts the ghostly figure of naval hero Jan Carel Josephus van Speijk appearing before three soldiers. Van Speijk had become a national symbol earlier that year when he destroyed his own gunboat rather than surrender to Belgian rebels, an act widely celebrated in the Netherlands as one of patriotic sacrifice. Van der Meulen created the work in Amsterdam on 21 May 1831, u...