A vision of the 19th century

The memory of this victory, a significant event in Swiss military history, was built up from the day after the battle and was the subject of pictorial chronicles and an ossuary, among other things. This memorable victory was celebrated in addition to the earlier victories in the east during the 14th century (especially Morgarten and Sempach) as a symbol of resistance against foreign powers. In the 19th century, these values were celebrated and enshrined in the identity constitution of the new Switzerland of 1848. The ossuary destroyed in 1798 was replaced by an obelisk in 1823, and the commemorations of 1876 mobilised the authorities and the population. The panorama builds on this continuity.

The visual sources

The painter thus feeds on a constructed memory and offers a 19th-century view of the battle. The painting cannot serve as a source for interpreting the historical facts according to documents from the 15th century or material culture. The painter was inspired by 19th century sources such as Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's ‘Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle’ (Paris, 1858-1875) or Friedrich Gottlieb Ochsenbein's ‘Die Urkunden der Belagerung und Schlacht von Murten’ (Fribourg, 1876). The painter had at his disposal iconographic sources dating from the end of the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century. You can view a number of selected pictures below.