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Battle scenes throughout history

Battle scenes are one of the most popular directions in art throughout art history. They have been interpreted by many artists in many different ways from the heroic view and idealization of certain war campaigns to a very reflective and technical approach. Some of them surprise us with the techniques used, some blind us with the amount of detail, dynamism, and battle chaos. How does this subject inspire artists as well as recipients, what does it tell about the perception of war throughout history, and what was the personal goal and perception of the artists creating them? Let’s take a look at some artworks presenting battle scenes from different perspectives and with different approaches.


I believe the best artwork to start with will be one of the most known paintings for polish recipients. Battle of Grunwald painted in 1874 by Jan Matejko. The gigantic painting around 4 meters high and 10 meters wide makes its reception extremely difficult for the viewer to understand what is going on in front of him. The amount of detail, great mass of figures, animals, and armor falls on us, stunning, leaving us little place to rest our eyes on this dynamic madness. Creation of the painting aligned with the time Poland was taken around 20% of its territory by neighbor states. It was supposed to depict as many important moments of the battle as possible through one picture. The painting shows the polish army defeating the Teutonic Knights in one of the greatest European battles. Matejko studied and created plenty of sketches of armor, clothing, and weapons from that time period. He called those sketches his treasures and often used them in his paintings. The purpose of the painting was to give strength to polish people in order to stand up to the foreign aggressors and remind them of the past glory and victories.


"Bitwa pod Grunwaldem" Jan Matejko, 1872 - 1878


Let’s go back in time a little and focus on one of the indications of the battles created in the middle ages. Bayeux tapestry was created from 1066 to 1077 by unknown authors. The technique used is quite unusual for us because it’s sewn from the 9 fragments of linen depicting the story of the conflict between English king Harold the 2nd and prince of Normandy Wilhelm. The tapestry is created with unusual precision and detail and decorated with plant and animal motives. It shows the story of Wilhelm’s victory over Harold, after which Wilhelm gained the name „the conqueror”. Its goal was to narrate the story of the conflict but also justify Wilhelm’s attack on England. It shows not only the battle itself but also the story behind it, which also makes it a historical and storytelling source.


"Tkanina z Bayeux", XI century


One of the earliest indications of the battle has its origin around 2600 - 2400 b. c. The Standard of Ur is a trapezoid box depicting the victory of the Sumerian king over his enemy. The battle again is shown as visually narrated story depicting the triumph and domination over the enemy. Interestingly, on the other side of the box, we observe the situation after the battle, the feast, and the celebration of victory. The material used for (what turned out later) the acoustic box of some instrument is a shell, red limestone, and lapis-lazuli. The defeated enemy is shown as minor, and inferior. The scenes depicted are very drastic, we see people under the wheels of chariots and naked captives judged by the king.


"Sztandar z Ur", 2900–2334 B.C.


In the renaissance, we can find an interesting picture of battle by Paolo Ucello. The battle of San Romano is a series of three paintings created for Leonardo Bartolini. Some say, that for the artist, the goal of the painting was to show the complex perspective rather than to depict the glory of the moment. Anyways, the paintings indicate the glorious moments of battle and perspective as well so the artist’s goal could have been to show his abilities, present the picture pleasing to the viewer, and the glory of the victory as well. Paolo Ucello was indeed one of the precursors of the perspective in art, but his paintings show great skill in figure and horse painting as well. Interestingly, we can notice that in battle scenes horses are as important as humans, and often artists who specialized in battle scenes study them as diligently as they study human figure.


One panel of a triptych on the Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello, 1438-1440


We can see the change in the tendency and way of depicting battle scenes slowly showing later on in paintings such as „The third of May 1808” by Spanish painter Francisco Goya. The painting doesn’t show the battle itself but shows the consequences of the rebellion of Spanish people against the French. The painting does not picture the triumph as we could see in the previous examples. It is shown from the perspective of those who are just about to be shot for their rebellion. It shows the lost side who lost in the fair fight for their freedom. The man in the yellow trousers raises his hands in the gesture of christ on the cross, waiting for his death. That moving scene shows an interesting paradox where the „good ones” who lost are actually presented in a more heroic, humane way. We sympathize with them, they are not shown as inferior or weak. The picture of failure is actually the motivation to fight for freedom and to be ready to die for the right cause.


"The Third of May 1808" Francisco Goya, 1814


Guernica pictured by one of the most famous painters and another Spanish man - Pablo Picasso again shows the reversion of the tendency in depicting battle scenes. The painting is a criticism of war and the cruelty of fascists who bombarded the city of Guernica. The painting is chaotic, joins the elements of abstraction and symbolism. The black and white palette results in a more serious, reportage depiction. The painting causes the feeling of pain and madness, the picture is shown from the perspective of the victims of the bombardment. We see drastic scenes of people trapped in their houses, surrounded by fire. We neither see the triumph nor the attackers. Painting is a political comment on the dictatorships moving out of control in Europe. It was painted in 1937, so two years before the second world war.


"Guernica" Pablo Picasso, 1937


The last example I find very interesting is the artwork created recently which is an example of commercial art. Eclipse Leona splash art created for Riot games for commercial and advertising purposes by Esben Lash Rasmussen, pictures one of the characters from the game „League of legends”. It is an example of digital artwork and was created to advertise a skin for the character to the players of the game. League of legends likes to present its characters in a heroic way, the world presented is fantastical and characters are capable of using magic, have super strength, etc. Leona is presented in this particular splash art as a strong woman, dressed in armor, beautiful and strong. The artwork is very detailed and captures viewers' attention through special effects and a colorful palette. This depiction is clearly for advertising purposes but is very beautiful and interesting as well. The approach presented is much different from the ones we’ve seen before and shows another face of a battle scene.
















"Eclipse Leona" Esben Lash, 2018


To sum up, the depiction of battle was very different throughout history. Battle scenes were painted in order to glorify certain rulers, strengthen the hearts of the people deprived of liberty, or raise political awareness. Many of the battle scenes were painted for commercial or storytelling purposes. Some were painted in order for the artist to show their abilities. Others were painted from the perspective of those who lost, in order to show their perspective and the cruelty of war.




Sources:

"Historia Sztuki" - book by Stephen Farthing published in 2010



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