Cavalry Battle between Turks and Austrians (Cavalry Battle) (Karel Breydel) - Nationalmuseum - 18181

Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 33:
Technical notes: The support consists of a single
board of oak (0.6–0.7 cm thick) with a horizontal grain.
All of the edges have been bevelled from 1–4 cm. The
support is still in its original format.
The preparation consists of a white chalk ground
applied thinly and evenly with a brush to cover the structure
of the support completely. In places the ground has
been applied over the upper and lower edge of the panel.
There is a transparent light brownish imprimatura. A
sketch was probably made (faintly visible in the dying
horse in the foreground) in a light brown colour possibly
executed with a brush.
The paint layer is thin but applied opaquely. The foreground
and background have been painted separately
and reserves left for details such as the tower on the
right. The tree to the left of the tower has been painted
over the sky. The figures have been rendered sketchily in
opaque paint and with distinct facial features. Impasto
highlights are present in the figures and the clouds. The
combatants on horseback are painted in blue and red in
the foreground. The central scene with a fallen white
horse can also be seen in other paintings by Breydel,
such as no. 32. The figures in the foreground and background
are rendered thinly and are today semi-transparent
(the paint layers have faded). The main battle scene
has been rendered in thin paint over the landscape in the
background.
The materials, technique and execution match no. 32
completely. There is a tendency to cleavage in the sky
and the paint surface is rather abraded. The painting
underwent conservation treatment in 1934.
Provenance: Karl XIII’s estate inventory 1818; Karl
XV’s coll., Rosersberg; Purchased in 1873 by auction
after Karl XV together with no. 32 (Rbg 66), cat. no.
759–760; Transferred from the NM (formerly NM 1178)
to Rosersberg c. 1943.
Bibliography: Göthe 1887, p. 32, no. 1178; Saur, vol.
14 1966, p. 185.
This battle scene is a companion piece to no. 32 and
depicts a cavalry battle between Turks and Austrians.
Breydel painted a number of battle scenes with this
theme.1
In the foreground of the Nationalmuseum’s painting
the soldiers with their multicoloured garments and
flags are depicted in battle enveloped by gunpowder
smoke. In the middle ground to the right, a tower and
a crenellated wall are depicted, to the left a plane and
an encampment in front of which can be seen a
mounted rider and a baggage train. The background
contains a mountain and behind it a blue sky with light
clouds. As is the case with no. 32, this work is also
thoughtfully composed with an explicit foreground in
which the battle is taking place, a middle ground with
a fortress, a crenellated wall and diverse figures and a
landscape in the background. The format of both
works is identical, as is the palette, materials, technique
and execution.
This painting, like its companion piece no. 32,
belonged for some time to Karl XIII’s collection of art
and then to Karl XV’s collection at Rosersberg. On
Karl XV’s death the painting together with its companion
piece was purchased by the Nationalmuseum.
In 1943 both pictures were returned to Rosersberg,
where they still hang today.
KS
1 See no. 32 (Rbg 66) and also Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 3 May 1999, lot 53.

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