3-098-893 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Heroic defense of the tower of San Agustín in Zaragoza in the War of Independence, 1884. The work, possibly based on the text of the National Episode by B. Pérez Galdós, Zaragoza , published in Madrid in 1874, was presented at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1884, where it won the Third Class Medal. The episode took place on February 1, 1809, during the second Siege of Zaragoza in the Peninsular War (1808-1814). The tower of San Agustín, whose bell plays a prominent role in the scene, belonged to the Augustinian convent and was destroyed in the siege. Various armed figures also appear, some defending the bell tower and others already fallen in the battle.