FOLLOWER OF JAN VAN HUCHTENBURG | Scenes of the Siege of Belgrade: Prince Eugene of Savoy directing troops; Aftermath of the battle

Private collection, South Germany.

The Siege of Belgrade ended on 17 August 1717 with the conquest of the fortress of Belgrade and defeat of the Ottomans by Austrian troops, under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy (d. 1736) – depicted in the former painting riding a white horse. These views depict the battle from different angles, showing Belgrade at the confluence of the rivers Danube and Sava, as illustrated in a map on the scroll, upper left in the former painting.(1) The other scroll provides a key to the topography and the action. Jan van Huchtenburg (d. 1733), Prince Eugene’s court painter, depicted the siege from a similar raised vantage point in a painting that was also engraved (Turin, Galeria Sabauda).(2)

1 This map corresponds closely to the engraving by Gabriel Bodenehr.

2 Inv. no. 898; see C.E. Spantigati, I quadri del Re: le raccolte del principe Eugenio condottiero e intellettuale: collezionismo tra Vienna, Parigi e Torino nel primo Settecento, Silvana 2012, p. 192, cat. no. 3.1, reproduced.