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Battle Scene
Philips Wouwerman·c. 1645/1646
Historical Context
Philips Wouwerman's Battle Scene from around 1645-46 is an early work by the Haarlem painter who became one of the most collected Dutch artists of the 17th and 18th centuries. Wouwerman produced over 1,000 paintings, with cavalry battles, hunts, and equestrian scenes among his most popular subjects. His battle scenes, though lacking the documentary specificity of actual campaigns, satisfied the Dutch market's appetite for dynamic, dramatic compositions.
Technical Analysis
Wouwerman's oil-on-panel technique demonstrates his early mastery of dynamic composition and equestrian subjects. The characteristic silvery palette and the precise rendering of horses in motion show the distinctive qualities that would make his cavalry scenes among the most sought-after paintings in European collections.
Provenance
(Carlo Sestieri, Rome);[1] purchased 1960s by Joseph F. McCrindle [1923-2008], New York; gift 2000 to NGA. [1] Although the earlier provenance of the painting is not known, hints of its history exist in earlier sale records and from labels on the verso of the panel. This work may be the painting identified as “Cavalry fight on a Hill” that was sold by J. H. van Heemskerk in The Hague in 1770 (sale of 29 March 1770, no. 142, sold for 461 florins to Deodati). The dimensions recorded for that work, 20 1/2 by 34 1/2 inches, are only slightly larger than those of this painting. See: Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, translated by Edward G. Hawke, 8 vols., London, 1907-1927: 2(1909):498, no. 770e. One of the old handwritten labels on the verso reads: “N:XXVII / Une bataille par Phillippe Wouwerman.” The other label, which indicates that the painting was at one point in Sweden, reads: “Österby-samlinger / Söderfors.”
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