Name of Object:

The Recapture of Buda in 1686

Location:

Budapest, Közép-Magyarország / Central Hungary, Hungary

Holding Museum:

Budapest History Museum

 About Budapest History Museum, Budapest

Date of Object:

1686

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Romeyn de Hooghe (1645, Amsterdam-1708, Haarlem)

Museum Inventory Number:

3206

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Engraving and etching on paper

Dimensions:

H: 50.9 cm; w: 65.3 cm

Type of object:

Print (engraving/etching)

Description:

In 1686, two years after the unsuccessful siege of Buda, a renewed campaign began to enter the Hungarian capital. This time, the Holy League's army was twice as large with over 74,000 men, including German, Hungarian, Croatian, Dutch, English, Spanish, Czech, Italian, French, Burgundian, Danish and Swedish soldiers, along with other Europeans as volunteers, artillerymen, and officers.
By the middle of June 1686, the siege had begun. A Turkish relief army arrived at Buda in the middle of August, but Abdurrahman Abdi Paşa shrank from the large-scale attack against the siege army, and on 2 September 1686 came upon the resisting Generalsturm (General's Tower) at the fortress. The commanders in chief were Charles Duke V of Lorraine (1643–1690) and Maximilan II Emanuel Elector of Bavaria (1679–1726).  Prince Eugene of Savoy and his dragoons were not directly involved in entering the city, but secured the rear of their army against the Turkish relief army, which could not prevent the city from being entered after 145 years in Turkish possession.
This engraving by Romeyn de Hooghe represents the great explosion of 22 July 1686, the dramatic and decisive event of the attack, showing a partly fictitious topography of the city. The commanders in chief with their army are represented in the foreground Pest-side, while besides them in Pest and in Buda, are their camps and attacking battle corps, with the city of Buda on fire and in ruins, and Gellért Hill on the far left.
The print was published with German and Dutch inscriptions. The following is from the Dutch inscription seen at the top: “Belegering der sterke stad, Buda of Offen, door de keyserlyke en geallierde machten. 1686.” (The siege of the strong city of Buda – aka Offen – by the allied, imperial forces. 1686.) The print is signed in the middle at the bottom: “R. de Hooge jnv: et fecit. 1686.”

This print by Romeyn de Hooghe is the most famous of numerous representations of the recapture of Buda in 1686. It depicts a topographical, partly exact bird’s eye view, with a Baroque battle scene complete with representations of the commanders in chief in the foreground, and the castle and city of Buda on fire, in the background.

How date and origin were established:

On the basis of the signature

How Object was obtained:

Transferred from the Capital’s collection in 1945.

Selected bibliography:

Rózsa, G., Budapest régi látképei, Budapest (Old Vedute of Budapest: Budapest, 1963, No. 104), 1963, cat. 104.
Rózsa, G., Romeyn de Hooghe und die Türkenkriege in Ungarn (Romeyn de Hooghe and the Turkish Wars in Hungary), Oud-Holland, 1962, pp. 102–103, 107.
Landwehr, J., Romeyn de Hooghe the Etcher. Contemporary Portrait of Europe, Leiden, 1973, p. 129.
Budapest az Újkorban (Budapest in Modern Times), (ed. G. Szvoboda Dománszky), Budapest, 1995, p. 17.

Citation of this web page:

Terézia  Bardi, Beatrix  Basics "The Recapture of Buda in 1686" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;hu;Mus11_A;42;en

Prepared by: Terézia BardiTerézia Bardi

SURNAME: Bardi
NAME: Terézia Anna

AFFILIATION: National Trust of Monuments for Hungary

TITLE: Art Historian, Vice Director for Research at The National Trust of
Monuments for Hungary; MWNF DBA local co-ordinator (Hungary), author
and copy-editor

CV:
Terézia Bardi, Vice Director for Research at the National Trust of Monuments for Hungary since 2004, was awarded her MA in History and History of Art at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. After a period of fellowships mainly in Italy, Terézia gained her PhD from the Faculty of Art History at the same university for her thesis Presentation and Representation – the European Reception of the Liberation of Buda in 1686: Feast and Public Opinion. Her main fields of research are 17th-and18th-century Baroque and Rococo: the spectacles, festival decorations and associated iconography – including theatre productions of the period – and interior decoration of historic houses. Since 1988, she has edited a number of art historical books that include some on Oriental art and architecture. She is MWNF DBA’s local (Hungarian) co-ordinator, author and copy-editor., Beatrix Basics
Copyedited by: Terézia BardiTerézia Bardi

SURNAME: Bardi
NAME: Terézia Anna

AFFILIATION: National Trust of Monuments for Hungary

TITLE: Art Historian, Vice Director for Research at The National Trust of
Monuments for Hungary; MWNF DBA local co-ordinator (Hungary), author
and copy-editor

CV:
Terézia Bardi, Vice Director for Research at the National Trust of Monuments for Hungary since 2004, was awarded her MA in History and History of Art at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. After a period of fellowships mainly in Italy, Terézia gained her PhD from the Faculty of Art History at the same university for her thesis Presentation and Representation – the European Reception of the Liberation of Buda in 1686: Feast and Public Opinion. Her main fields of research are 17th-and18th-century Baroque and Rococo: the spectacles, festival decorations and associated iconography – including theatre productions of the period – and interior decoration of historic houses. Since 1988, she has edited a number of art historical books that include some on Oriental art and architecture. She is MWNF DBA’s local (Hungarian) co-ordinator, author and copy-editor.
Translation by: Beatrix Basics
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: HU 65