ABSTRACT
Art in early modern Europe rarely arouses suspicions of arguing against war. It is only in modern times, or more precisely during the twentieth century, that depictions of the atrocities of war became quite common. In some ways, it even shaped it as the only possible option—together with a search for motives—for artists in the present, something artists were normally prevented from doing prior to the nineteenth century. It has been correctly pointed out that an important reason for the scarceness in illustrations of atrocious battle scenes can be attributed to the desires of the art patrons and to the demands of the art market. The modern depiction of war and the merciless condemnation of its atrocities had as a precondition the disappearance of an interpretation of history that stresses God's saving grace. It is a sign of the modern process of secularization in which war had to be coped with in this world.
