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The Recapture of Buda Castle in 1686
Gyula Benczúr · Realism & Academic
- Artist
- Gyula Benczúr (1844–1920)
- Date
- 1896
- Dimensions
- 351 x 708 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
This vast history painting shows the end of the siege of Buda in September 1686, when the Christian armies of the Holy League took the castle after 145 years of Ottoman rule. The commanders ride in triumph over the breach in the walls, among smoke, ruins and fallen soldiers.
A closer look
At the centre, on horseback, are Charles of Lorraine, commander of the imperial army, and the young Eugene of Savoy, surrounded by officers and Hungarian soldiers waving banners. In the foreground lies the body of the last Ottoman governor of Buda, Abdurrahman Abdi Pasha, who fell defending the castle. Benczúr arranged the many figures in a grand, theatrical composition, with rich colours and carefully painted details of armour, costumes and horses. The painting was commissioned for the millennium of the Hungarian state in 1896.