Gezicht op Pannonhalma 1686

Gaspar Bouttats created this print, "View of Pannonhalma," during a time of great political and military upheaval in Europe. The late 17th century saw conflicts such as the War of the Holy League, which contextualizes the presence of armed figures in what might otherwise be a simple landscape. But this image is far from simple. Bouttats situates St. Martin's Archabbey—a Benedictine monastery in Pannonhalma, Hungary—atop a steep hill, a beacon amidst turmoil. Yet, what does it mean to depict a religious site with such militaristic undertones? The soldiers clash in the foreground, their swords raised in violence, while the monastery looms in the background, seemingly untouched by the conflict. This juxtaposition invites us to consider the relationship between religious institutions, power, and the everyday lives of people caught in conflict. While rendered in a traditional landscape format, Bouttats’s choice of including such explicit violence in a work depicting a monastery challenges conventional representations, and prompts reflection on the emotional and physical toll of war.