Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746-1814) was a Polish soldier and statesman and a leader in the fight for independence from Russian rule. A national hero, he led a major uprising in 1794 which culminated in a two month siege of Warsaw by Russian and Prussian forces. Kosciuszko was badly wounded at the battle of Maciejowice. Campbell’s poem evokes the horrors of the siege: ‘Hope, for a season, bade the world Farewell/ And Freedom shrieked as KOSCIUSZKO fell!’. The figure shown here holding aloft the crown of Stanislaus and a scimitar may be Kosciuszko, or alternatively he may be represented by the wounded soldier lying on the ground. Turner includes a triumphal arch amid the blazing city beyond, perhaps ironically.