Item is one of 123 pen-and-ink drawings and watercolours from two volumes titled: "Sketches of the War: France/Belgium". The sketches vary from satirical cartoons to more detailed and naturalistic renditions. They are often accompanied by an ironic title and are often signed with the artist's initials, "J.M." The artist's satirical targets include the officers and high command of both combatant sides; the disjuncture between reported and actual events, and the death of civilians as a fact of modern warfare.