The Epic Poem

The epic is the poetry of heroes and war, and its Dutch name, Het heldendicht, means literally the hero poem. So this corner is full of arms. A child in a scrap of drapery grips a spear taller than he is, another shelters behind a large shield, a helmet lies on the left, and a trumpet has been dropped in the foreground. Between them a third child holds up a laurel wreath, the crown that the ancient Greeks and Romans gave to victors and to poets alike.