The parish church of St Lawrence in Zhovkva, which was a collegiate church until the Josephine reforms, was considered one of the most important testimonies to the historical identity of Poles in the 19th century. Founded by Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski and later associated with King Jan III Sobieski, during the partition period it was a reminder of the former splendour of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, especially as the two eminent commanders consistently created the content programme of its decoration based on the apologia of the country's military might. It was Żółkiewski's intention to erect not only a family mausoleum, but also a peculiar pantheon of knights' fame, which was referred to in the sculpted frieze adorning the elevation of the building with motifs of panoplies, bucranions and figures of knights. To commemorate one of his greatest successes, the hetman also commissioned a huge composition depicting the victory in the battle against the Russian-Swedish army at Klushino. The oil painting was most likely done by the Lvov painter Szymon Bogushovich. Several decades later, the military propaganda programme was developed by another owner of the Yellowknife estate, the hetman's great-grandson, King John III Sobieski, who placed three more scenes on the walls of the church: first the Battle of Chocim by Andreas Stech, and a few years later the Battle of Vienna and the Battle of Parkany, which he commissioned from his court painter Martin Altomonte. In this way, a unique, not only for Poland, set of battle paintings with complex ideological content celebrating the power of the Polish army and its heroic commanders was created in the interiors of the Zhovkva church. After the fall of the Rzeczpospolita, it remained a precious reminder of its past glory, but the economic crisis that struck the city at the end of the 18th century and the auctioning off of the Sobieski estate meant that, deprived of the protection of the wealthy family, the Zhovkva church, together with the works of art it housed, began to fall into neglect.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the condition of the battle canvases from the church in Zhovkva was appalling - according to the descriptions, the frames had partially fallen off, the canvases were damaged by insects and were torn apart, which led to the chipping of the paint layer. The painting depicting the Battle of Chocim was said to be in the worst condition - "half torn and torn". In 1825, it was decided that the paintings needed to be restored, with funds provided by the State of Galicia. Joseph Engerth, a German-born painter who had settled in Lviv two years earlier, was chosen to carry out this task. At the time, he was not only an experienced artist, probably about fifty years old, but also surrounded by authority due to his previous position as court painter to Duke Ferdinand von Anhalt-Köthen in Pszczyna. As an artist, he specialised in portraits, but also executed sacred paintings and smaller genre scenes. There are no accounts of his earlier activities in the field of ancient art conservation, but also there were probably no professionals in Lvov at that time who were involved in this kind of work. Perhaps it was due to his lack of experience that there were problems in carrying out the task entrusted to him, the results of which were assessed very critically in the following decades. It has been written that Engerth was paid several thousand Rhine gold for this commission, which was a very significant sum in those days, but that he carried it out incompetently. Already in 1850, in his Słownik malarzów (Dictionary of Painters), Edward Rastawiecki noted that "due to inappropriate gluing, these paintings show signs of decay which, spreading over time, threaten to destroy these monuments, so respectable for art and national history" (E. Rastawiecki, Słownik malarzów polskich tudzież obcych w Polsce osiadłych lub temporowo przebywających, vol. 1, Warsaw 1850, p. 160). To be honest, although Engerth later completed a few more prestigious commissions in Lviv (e.g., he created a portrait of Francis I used in 1827 during the celebrations of the Emperor's birthday organised in the city, and painted a painting commissioned by the Greek-Catholic Metropolitan of Lviv, Christ handing over the keys to St. Peter in the Church of St. George), it is unfortunately the unsuccessful conservation work on the Yellowknife battle compositions that has stuck in the memory of posterity the most. As well as the fact that, seeking to earn money in the difficult realities of Galician cultural life, he undertook to paint rooms and even, supposedly, shop signs. He remained in Lviv for the rest of his life. He died in 1831 during a cholera epidemic.

However, Joseph Engerth was connected to the parish church in Zhovkva and the battle paintings in it in yet another way. For he made a painting depicting the interior of this church in the type of Dutch kerkinterieurs. The wide perspective taken from an observation point in the nave allowed the viewer to take in the space between the chancel and the transept, where the famous historical paintings were displayed. On the walls of the transept, two compositions by Altomonte are clearly visible (although not in their entirety): on the north side - the Battle of the Parklands, on the south side - the Battle of Vienna. They are rendered in quite some detail and are easily recognisable, although some misrepresentations can be seen in the details of the compositions. The other two battle canvases, hung in the chancel, are far less legible due to the necessary foreshortening of perspective, but remain identifiable: on the north wall is the Battle of Klushino, and opposite is the Battle of Chocim. In the background, the late Baroque main altar and the tombstones of the Zolkiewski family on its sides are visible. The meticulously rendered interior of the church bears witness to the unprecedented historical significance that the Zhovkva parish church was already attributed in Engerth's time. The monumental battle compositions acquire an even stronger panegyric dimension in the sacred space. The effect they had on the viewers was also immortalised by the painter: in front of the painting depicting the skirmish at Parkany, a group of observers can be seen clearly gazing at it. Two men in elegant clothes, accompanied by a monk, are looking at the work, even pointing out some details with their hand. In this way, Engerth directs the viewer's attention to Altomonte's work, emphasising its momentousness, but also indirectly praising the effects of his own actions that led to its restoration. To enliven the composition, the artist additionally introduced the staffage typical of the church interior genre with conventional figures of people praying or beggars waiting for alms. In doing so, he followed the traditional formula in European painting from the 17th century onwards.

Today, the interior of the church in Zhovkva is even more valuable, as it constitutes iconographic material documenting the furnishings of the temple as originally conceived by King John III Sobieski, now unfortunately no longer displayed in this way. The four huge battle compositions were still hanging in the parish church until 1972, but in the church, which was turned into a warehouse after the war, they gradually deteriorated. Therefore, the then director of the Lviv Picture Gallery, Borys Voznitskyi, decided to secure them and transport them to the Olesko branch of the museum, although they could not be displayed in their entirety due to their monumental size. In 2011, a Polish-Ukrainian conservation team led by Paweł Sadlej carried out the restoration of two of Altomonte's canvases. However, it has not yet been possible to realise the initially envisaged project of placing them back inside the restored church.

Location: Lviv National Art Gallery, Lviv