Call to arms.

"Call to Arms" belongs to the tradition of military genre painting in which Brandt explored the moments before or between combat — the mobilization of men, the gathering of forces, the preparation for action — rather than the action itself. This 1880 canvas, held in the National Museum in Warsaw, engages with the emotional and social rituals of military life in historical Polish and eastern European contexts. Scenes of men responding to a call to arms had a particular resonance in a century when Poland lacked its own state and military: they evoked a tradition of collective martial response that the partitioned nation could no longer enact. By 1880 Brandt was at the peak of his career and reputation, producing works that combined technical mastery with historical and patriotic significance. The National Museum's holdings of multiple Brandt works from this period reflect the institutional importance attached to his contribution to Polish historical painting.

A call-to-arms subject requires Brandt to coordinate multiple figures in states of preparation and movement, creating compositional energy without the concentrated violence of a battle scene. Horse and figure anatomy are rendered with precision in the foreground, while the background likely dissolves into the atmospheric looseness characteristic of his mature work. Warm earth tones establish the scene's historical period and atmosphere.