Cavalry Skirmish
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 12 x 19 cm h x w x d: Ram 23 x 31 x 5 cm
Inventory numberNM 514
Other titlesTitle (sv): Ryttarfäktning Title (en): Cavalry Skirmish
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 133: Technical notes: The painting’s support is an oak panel constructed of a single board. Dendrochronological examination and analysis has determined a felling date for the tree between c. 1650 and 1664. The wood originated from the region of Western Germany/the Netherlands. Under the assumption of a median of 17 sapwood rings and a minimum of 2 years for seasoning of the wood, the most plausible date for use of the panel would be 1662 or later. The preparation consists of a thick and evenly applied white ground that covers the structure of the support entirely. Rapidly executed sketchy painting. Highly diluted paint layers have been applied thinly to attain the thin “wet on wet” colour layer. In places there are accumulations of paint with distinct brushstrokes with thicker pigment. The foreground seems to have been painted first with reserves left for the figures (riders and horses), architectural details and trees. Thin outlines are faintly visible in the rearing horse on the left of the painting drawn in a wet medium with a brush. The sky has been painted up to the edge of the building and the trees. A few brushstrokes with diluted paint that add movement to the picture and are executed wet in wet lend drama to the painting. The figures in the background are executed with fewer colours and not as finely modelled. The figure in the foreground in a jacket was probably painted in madder but now this seems brownish in parts. More distinct brushwork has been used in the sky, where the paint is somewhat drier and applied opaquely. The palette consists of red (probably cinnabar) blue, green, white, earth colours and glazes (probably madder). The painting technique corresponds to no. 132. The painting is in poor condition. It underwent conservation treatment in 1926. Provenance: Coll. De Fonspertuis, Paris; purchased by Adolf Fredrik 1748; Adolf Fredrik, no. 271; purchased by Gustav III from his father’s estate in1771; KM 1795, no. 40; KM 1816, no. 685; NM 1866, no. 514. Bibliography: Sander I, p. 135, no. 277; Göthe 1887, p. 150; Göthe 1893, p. 188; Von Wurzbach 1906–1911, t.II, p. 153; NM Cat. 1958, p. 122; NM Cat. 1990, p. 217; Richefort 2004, cat. no. 8, p. 212. This painting is companion piece to the preceding entry (no. 132) and originates in the same way from the Fonspertuis collections in Paris, from which it was purchased in 1748 by King Adolf Fredrik. The painting which resembles a sketch is, according to Richefort (2004), a characteristic example of the series of small format works produced by Adam Frans van der Meulen for sale.1 According to the dendrochronological studies the panel originates from Germany or the Netherlands and the probable date calculated for its manufacture is 1662 or later. This means that this work may have been produced in Brussels before the artist travelled to Paris in 1664 or more probably after his arrival in the French capital, in view of the fact that its companion piece probably dates from around 1668 or later, according to dendrochronological examination of the work (no. 132). This painting depicts a cavalry skirmish or battle outside a farmhouse. The roof of the building is intimated to the right in the middle ground of the work. The foreground contains a summary representation of vegetation and in the left middle ground is a horseman, sword raised, on a rearing black horse. To the right in the middle ground can be seen a number of horsemen on white horses, one of them with a sword in his hand. There is open landscape in the centre of the middle ground and background in which a number of horsemen are depicted. The position of these horsemen adds to the depth of the painting. The landscape in the background is rendered without precise details as are the leafy trees to the right and to the left. Some of the clouds in the sky are depicted as white and fluffy, others as storm clouds, which adds to the drama and movement of the work. The painting is signed clearly in a dark colour to the right in the foreground with the initials “A.F.V.M.” The colour layer is applied thinly, in some sections so thinly that the support forms part of the composition of the work. KS [End]
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