The Battle of Orsha is a picture depicting the Battle of Orsha , which took place on September 8, 1514, between the Allied forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland against the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow during a series of Russian – Lithuanian wars .
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| Battle of Orsha . 1520–1534 (?) | ||
| National Museum , Warsaw | ||
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The painting is in the National Museum in Warsaw . It is the only work of its kind in Polish painting of the Renaissance.
Content
Artist
The anonymous artist was one of the court painters, cartographers, and the method of writing the work suggests that he was part of the circle of Lucas Cranach the Elder . Careful study of all the details indicate his direct participation in the battle. A self-portrait of the artist finds himself in one of the images: in the picture you can see an unarmed figure in a German costume, who sits on a stump on the bank of the Dnieper and watches the battle.
According to one hypothesis, the author of the picture was the German artist Hans Krell, court painter of Louis II of Hungary .
Picture Analysis
The picture shows a bird's eye view. The canvas presents several stages of the battle, as evidenced by the fact that the same characters appear in many places: for example, Hetman Konstantin Ostrogsky is depicted here three times. Details of equipment and weapons and portraits of military leaders were recreated quite realistic and with great accuracy: it shows, among other things, how water flows from the armor of soldiers after crossing the river. Some scenes are on the verge of the grotesque, others emphasize the brutality of the battle.
The picture was not preserved in full. Careful analysis shows that it was higher, down to the horizon. Asymmetry indicates that it was shortened 1/5 of the width to the left. The two opposing columns of heavy infantry, previously the center of the image, are now shifted to the left. Presumably, the picture was painted in the 1520-1534s.
The work was commissioned by the king and had propaganda overtones, although the battle did not bring strategic success. The viewer sees on the canvas beautifully presented rows of the Polish army, while the Russian army is depicted as an unorganized mass of people.
Notes
Literature
- Malarstwo Polskie , red. Janusz Fogler, Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, Warszawa 1997
- National Museum in Warsaw , Arkady, Warsaw, 1990, ISBN 83-213-3308-7
- ' Bitwa pod Orszą' . „ Rzeczpospolita ”. Cykl dodatków: „Zwycięstwa Oręża Polskiego” nr 4/20, 25 marca 2006. Warszawa .
- Zdzisław Żygulski jun - Polska. Broń wodzów i żołnierzy , Kraków 1998.