Abstract: Between 1712 and 1720, the Dutch painter and graphic artist Jan van Huchtenburgh painted ten representative oils on canvas depicting Eugene of Savoy’s battles (today at the Musei Reali, Galleria Sabauda, Turin). In collaboration with Jean Dumont, French writer and chronicler of Emperor Charles VI, Huchtenburgh published in 1720 a luxurious monograph dedicated to Eugene’s battles in The Hague, under the title Batailles Gagnées par le Serenissime Prince Fr. Eugene De Savoye Sur Les Ennemis De La Foi, Et sur ceux de L’Empereur & de L’Empire, en Hongrie, en Italie, en Allemagne & aux Pais-Bas. For that prestigious publication, the painter produced large copperplate reproductions of his paintings, as well as other illustrations, while Dumont provided detailed and reliable descriptions of each individual battle. The two authors thus created a unique monument in book form to Prince Eugene, which had no equal in its time. In 1725, the second edition of that luxurious monograph was published with the same illustration equipment. In addition to the reproductions of Huchtenburgh’s paintings in the form of inset copperplate prints, illustrations in the book also included large framed oval vignettes, printed at the beginning of the description of each battle. Inside them, there were maps of battlefields showing the arrangement of units and the most important topographical components, while the vignette frames served as bearers of symbolic visual messages. Templates for the vignettes were prepared by Huchtenburgh and transferred to copperplates by the Dutch engraver Jan Wandelaar. The descriptions were accompanied by large maps of Hungary, the Duchy of Milan (northern Italy), Swabia, Flanders, and Brabant, i.e. the locations of Eugene’s military campaigns, where the described and depicted battles had taken place. After Dumont’s death, historian Jean Rousset de Missy prepared a revised and expanded edition of this monumental work in three volumes. In the first volume, Rousset reprinted Dumont’s descriptions of ten battles with Huchtenburgh’s large copperplate prints, supplementing the text and the images with new narrative and visual material. Particularly valuable are the large battlefield maps attached to most of the descriptions, as well as Huchtenburgh’s copperplate prints with additional descriptions of battles not included in Dumont’s monograph. For the area of the former Kingdom of Hungary, three paintings by Huchtenburgh are of particular historical importance, depicting Prince Eugene’s victories over the Ottomans: the Battle of Senta (1697), the Battle of Petrovaradin (1716), and the Battle of Belgrade (1717). In this article, these images have been linked to the copperplate prints in Dumont and Huchtenburgh’s monograph, some of which are preserved in Croatian collections as separate graphic sheets, extracted from book copies. The author interprets these pictorial sources as a semantic whole in which the painter demonstrated his “theory” of depicting battles, presented in the introduction to the monograph from 1720. According to Huchtenburgh, the most suitable angle for depicting a battle is a view from the horseback or from some low elevation about fifty meters away from the first lines of conflict. Its advantage is that it brings the details and commotion of the battle closer to the eyes of the observer, while at the same time allowing him to see the entire width of the battlefield with the arrangement of fortifications and military camps. The painter, however, consciously manipulated the analytical elements of the battle, as in his staging he regularly depicted Prince Eugene in the foreground, as a valiant military leader and victor. In this way, the paintings of Eugene’s battles and the associated prints served as a kind of visual documentation and commemoration of the event, contributing to the glorification of the great victor in the perception of his contemporaries and the future generations, and creating an artistic experience of powerful visual and dramaturgical tension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Abstract: Nizozemski slikar i grafičar Jan van Huchtenburgh naslikao je između 1712. i 1720. po narudžbi Eugena Savojskog deset prikaza njegovih najslavnijih bitaka u tehnici ulja na platnu (danas u Musei reali, Galleria Sabauda, Torino). U suradnji s francuskim spisateljem i kroničarem cara Karla VI., Jeanom Dumontom, Huchtenburgh je 1720. u Hagu objavio luksuznu monografiju posvećenu Eugenovim bitkama pod naslovom Batailles Gagnées par le Serenissime Prince Fr. Eugene De Savoye Sur Les Ennemis De La Foi, Et sur ceux de L’Empereur & de L’Empire, en Hongrie, en Italie, en Allemagne & aux Pais-Bas, ilustriranu bakroreznim reprodukcijama navedenih slika, zemljovidima i planovima bojišta u dekorativnom okvirima sa simboličkim motivima. U ovom radu interpretirane su slike i grafike uz tri bitke protiv Osmanlija, osobito važne za sudbinu Ugarskog Kraljevstva: bitka kod Sente (1697.), bitka kod Petrovaradina (1716.) i bitka kod Beograda (1717.). Huchtenburghove slike povezane su s ilustracijama u Dumont-Huchtenburghovoj monografiji od kojih su neke kao zasebni grafički listovi, izvađeni iz primjeraka knjige, sačuvane u hrvatskim zbirkama. Ta je slikovna građa interpretirana kao semantička cjelina koja odražava slikarovu “teoriju” prikazivanja bitaka. Istodobno, manipulirajući analitičkim elementima bitke, slikar u duhu barokne vizualne retorike slavi princa Eugena kao neustrašivog vojskovođu i pobjednika nad neprijateljima carstva i kršćanstva. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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