Imagined battles: reflections of war in European art
The book traces major themes of war in art as they appear, fade, and reappear over five centuries. Perhaps the most significant of these recurring themes is that of the common soldier and his counterpart, the civilian who gets in the way of war. Over the course of the nineteenth century, these two - the common soldier and the civilian victim - replaced the prince and the glorified commander as central figures in the interpretation of war in Western art.