| NTFM | Collection; The battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo

A tin figure museum is not complete without a Battle of Waterloo, probably the most famous battle in history. We have a big diorama of this battle with more than 10.000 figures. Actually more than 300.000 soldiers were brought into the battle.

On 18 June 1815 Napoleon suffered his final defeat in Waterloo against an alliance of British, Dutch, Hanoverian and Prussian armies, under command of the duke of Wellington and the Prussian general Blücher. The English-Dutch army, under command of the Dutch crown prince William of Orange, counts 79.000 infantrymen, 14.000 cavalrymen and 196 cannons. When the English commander-in-chief Arthur Wellesley, better known as the duke of Wellington, arrives, he took over the command.

Till 1940 Waterloo-day was celebrated in The Netherlands as a national holiday. One had a day off and, especially in the north of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, processions, concerts and feasts were organised.

Châteaux d'Hougoumont

Crown prince William, in the uniform of the 10th Royal Hussars 'Prince of Wales's Own' and his adjutant follow, at the edge of a 16 m2 model of the battle field of Waterloo, the course of the battle. As a visitor you can, under the rumbling of firing cannons, follow this battle by means of a son et lumière.

In the room there is a life-size copy of the painting 'The battle of Waterloo', created by Jan Willem Pieneman (1779-1853) and an original preliminary study of this painting: the portrait of lieutenant-general Henry Paget Lord Uxbridge. One of the last cannon-shots on 18 June 1815 splinters the right leg of Lord Uxbridge, that had to be amputated. Lord Uxbridge was close to Wellington when this personal drama took place. According to an anecdote they should have shouted to each other: "By God, sir, I've lost my leg!" - after which Wellington answered, "By God, sir, so you have!"

Pieneman spent years on 'Waterloo'. In the years 1819-1821 he was several times a guest of the Duke of Wellington to make portrait studies of Wellington and his officers. At the painting 69 persons are recognizable. The enormous painting was completed in 1824. King William I bought it for his son. One would expose it in his Brussels palace. But before it was moved over there, it was exhibited in Amsterdam , Ghent, Brussels and London . Pieneman earned -extra to the selling price of 40 000 guilders- as much as 50 000 guilders again: a fortune in those days.

The brochure made by Pieneman for the exhibition of the painting, says that he choose the moment of 20.00 o'clock. It was the moment when the battle took an unfortunate turn for Napoleon. Just at the moment that the French won, the opportunities changed by the arrival of the Prussian army. Napoleons fate was decided. Pieneman choose this turn in the battle. Left, on his horse, and with his 'bicorne' in his hand the English lieutenant-colonel Freemantle brings the message the Prussian allies have arrived.

THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

The Battle of Waterloo

Châteaux d'Hougoumont

The battle of Waterloo - Jan Willem Pieneman