On March 26, 1814, General Nicholas Joseph Maison in command of the French 1st Corps retreated from Antwerp and entered the Belgian town of Ghent where he remained for five days. Unable to withstand allied pressure, he was forced to quit the place on the 30th, but on the next day, although greatly outnumbered, he was able to achieve a notable victory over a Saxon corps under General Thielmann near the Belgian city of Kortrijk.
Hippolyte (Joseph-Louis-Hippolyte) Bellangé (1800-1866) was a leading painter and illustrator of French military scenes in the first half of the nineteenth century. Much of this influence came from his studies under Jean-Antoine Gros which began at the age of 16. It was there that he made the acquaintance of Nicolas-Toussant Charlet. At the urging of the latter, Bellange turned to lithography producing over 500 examples some of which are in the Military Collection. He progressed to oil paintings most of which focused on military subjects. However, the current work is a water-color painted in 1833. The scene is intended to represent the Korenmarkt of Ghent with the gatehouse of the Gravensteen Castle to the right. Soldiers and civilians are milling around as the place is being evacuated.