CLEVER CHILDREN

Today, we all live in a democratic nation and believe in Nationalism. But do we know the meaning of nationalism? From where did this concept come into existence? How it is related to Europe and what was the dream of the Europeans? All this will be answered in this chapter. To begin with, we should first discuss the painting made by Frederic Sorrieu in 1848. The French artist had prepared four prints visualizing his dream of a world made up of democratic and social Republic. The painting which we are going to discuss is one of the four prints made by Sorrieu. (Source: NCERT) The painting shows men and women from different ages and social groups marching in a long queue and giving honor to the Statue of Liberty. The painting describes statue of Liberty as a female figure having torch of enlightenment in one hand and charter of man’s right in other hand. The statue is a female figure because liberty was defined as a female figure by various French artists. He has shown shattered remains of absolutist institutions on the ground. Absolutist means a form of rule or government where the power is concentrated in the hands of a one person. In his utopian vision (vision of an ideal society that is unlikely to actually exist) he has described a group of people from different nations walking together towards statue of Liberty. The distinction can be easily felt as one can see people with different flags and different types of costumes worn by them. Ways past the statue of Liberty are the United States and Switzerland which were already nation- states by then. Then comes France, with its tricolor flag and she is followed by Germany. Germany was not a nation when this painting was made but as it was a dream of Sorrieu so he painted various countries that are part of this dream painting such as Austria, Two Sicilies, Lombardy, Poland, England, Ireland, Hungary and Russia. He has also painted Christ, saints and angels who are gazing the scene from heavens. This has been done to depict the fraternity. This chapter will deal with various issues that were visualized by Sorrieu in his painting. During the nineteenth century nationalism grew as a strong force that brought various political changes in Europe. The final result of these changes was the coming up of the nation-state in place of the multinational dynastic empires of Europe.