RE: The Mosaics of Berlin’s Victory Column – Part 4
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That small red capped figure tucked in the leaves hit me hardest, it turns the whole parade into a ledger where triumph sits in gold above and the cost hides below. My inner number cruncher smiled at that balance then winced at the write off of lives :). Von Werner's shift to sober, grounded power reads like a state audit rather than theater, very ReaListic.. and kind of chilling. The shine is loud but the footnote bleeds' through.
What a powerful observation — I love how you framed it as a “ledger” between triumph and cost. That small red-capped figure really is the quiet counterweight to all the grandeur above, almost like history itself whispering its price beneath the golden celebration.
Von Werner’s balance between splendor and gravity becomes even clearer once you notice those subtle human details — they anchor the scene in reality and remind us that victory is never just light and color, but also shadow and loss.
Your take on it as a kind of “state audit” feels spot on — this panel in particular strips away the mythic tone and replaces it with something more sober, almost bureaucratic in its honesty. The parade may shine, but as you said, the footnote bleeds through.
Your state audit image really fits, gold reads like credit on top while that red cap sits as the debit that refuses to be written off. Werner's realism tallies glory against cost with a cold accountant calm, so the shine feel loud but the footnote bleed's through :) It turns monument into memo, authority into a closing entry that won't quite close, a chilling banlance.