Beleg van Bouchain, 1711 1712 - 1715

Georg Heinrich Schifflin created this engraving titled 'Siege of Bouchain, 1711'. Produced during a period of intense European conflict, it depicts a military siege, a subject deeply embedded in the power dynamics of the time. The detailed imagery offers insight into the realities of 18th-century warfare, yet it also frames it within an elaborate ornamental border, which softens the blow of the violence depicted. Schifflin’s strategic composition uses these aesthetic choices to perhaps ennoble the depicted events. Consider how the experience of war differs depending on one's position, whether as a commander, soldier, or civilian caught in the conflict. Schifflin's engraving invites us to reflect on the human cost of military ambition and the stories that often go untold in grand narratives of war.