Battle of Königgrätz (painting)
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| Battle of Königgrätz |
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| Emil Hünten , 1886 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 85 × 110 cm |
| German Historical Museum |
Battle of Königgrätz is a painting by the painter Emil Hünten that hangs today in the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
background
The Battle of Königgrätz is one of the most important events of the late 19th century.
Emil Hünten had painted numerous paintings from the time of the Seven Years' War , this creative phase ended with the painting “Battle of Krefeld” , from then on he turned to contemporary subjects. He experienced the war of 1866 as a Landwehr officer in the Main Army and as a painter in the field. In the same year the Kaiser commissioned Emil Hünten to paint the “Battle of Königgrätz” and donated it to the Hall of Fame of the Berlin armory . With the painting, Prussia celebrated victory for supremacy in Germany.
The paintings
Despite or because of the importance of the battle, the picture does not show a battle scene, but rather how King Wilhelm I presented his son (later Emperor Friedrich III) with the order Pour le mérite on the battlefield of Königgrätz. The Chief of Staff Helmuth Moltke can be seen on the left edge of the picture, as well as soldiers of the 2nd Prussian Army (Crown Prince Army).
In 1930 the painting was extensively restored, the paint layer had peeled off the canvas in many places. Unlike other comparable pictures by Hünten, it survived the Second World War unscathed. The Berlin Zeughaus has lost its importance as the hall of fame of Prussia, so that it is in a new context as part of the collection of the German Historical Museum.
meaning
The picture was reproduced when it was made and was distributed through numerous engravings, prints and postcards. It can be found in historical publications and school books to the present day.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Monika Schulte-Arndt: The "Ruhmeshalle" in the Berlin armory: a self-portrayal of Prussia after the establishment of the Reich, 1985, p. 154
- ↑ http://www.dhm.de/datenbank/dhm.php?seite=5&fld_0=20060559 website of the museum, accessed on November 8, 2013