Beskrivning: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 180: 

Technical notes: The painting’s support consists of
four pieces of plain weave fabric: two strips, resp.
c.10.5–11.1 and 42.7–43.0 cm wide, sewn with a horizontal
seam across the top; and two squarish pieces at the
bottom, sewn with a horizontal seam c. 93.4–94.0 cm
from the bottom edge and a vertical seam at centre. The
topmost narrow strip of fabric is finer and more densely
woven than the other pieces, which have a fairly loose
weave with coarse, irregular threads. The original fabric
support has been lined and mounted on a non-original
strainer at the tacking edges of the relining canvas. The
original tacking edges have been partially trimmed on all
sides; no cusping is visible to the naked eye. The dimensions
of the present canvas are somewhat smaller than
those of the other two paintings in the set of three (see
under nos. 178–179).

The original fabric support was prepared with a thickly
and smoothly applied white ground that completely
covers the underlying texture of the support, followed by
an overall semi-transparent light brown imprimatura that
extends to the edges.

Paint is generally applied quite thickly, especially in
the sky, with vigorous brushwork in the clouds: the area
towards the top of the canvas, overlapping the topmost
seam, appears to be more thickly painted and coarsely
executed than the rest of the sky, and is possibly a later
addition. The landscape and figures are more thinly
painted, with slight impastos in the lights. The larger figures
in the foreground as well as the small-scale figures
in the middle distance were executed after the landscape
had already been painted. The figures and horses in the
middle distance and background were first lightly
sketched, using a fine brush and dark grey paint, directly
over the landscape, then executed in colour. Some of
these figures were never completed, for example, a
mounted soldier seen from the back riding towards the
horizon in the middle distance on the left (Fig. 1). The
painting underwent conservation treatment in 1837,
1875, 1955, 1980 and 1981.

Provenance: Possibly brought back from Cassel around
1766 by Johan Arckenholtz; purchased 1770 by Adolf
Fredrik; KM 1804, no. 148 (as Pieter Meulener); KM
1816, no. 584.

Exhibited: Münster/Osnabrück 1998/99, no. 1101 (as
Pieter Meulener); Stockholm 2010, no. 80.

Bibliography: NM Cat. 1867, p. 18 (as Pieter Meulener);
Sander IV, pp. 72–73; Göthe 1887, pp. 150–151 (as
Pieter Meulener); Göthe 1893, pp. 188–189; Göthe
1910, pp. 213–215; Granberg 1911–1913, I, p. 32;
Granberg 1929–1931, III, p. 29; NM Cat. 1958, p. 122
(as Pieter Meulener); Legrand 1963, pp. 211–212, fig. 86
(as Pieter Meulener); Danielsson 1972, pp. 13–52 (as
Peter Snayers); NM Cat. 1990, p. 218 (as Pieter Meulener);
Pfaffenbichler 1997, pp. 64–65, fig. 80 (as Pieter
Meulener); Engerisser and Hrniík 2009, figs. 21, 23.

This painting depicts a cavalry charge of the joint
Catholic troops against the Swedish Protestant army
during the Battle of Nördlingen, in south-western
Germany, on 6 September 1634. The supreme commanders
of, respectively, the Imperial-Bavarian army
and its allied Spanish forces, King Ferdinand of Hungary
and the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria,
are depicted in the left foreground, on a height overlooking
a vast battlefield, occupying about two-thirds
of the picture space, where the Swedes are being successfully
routed. The Cardinal-Infante is shown on
the right, in the more forward position, turning in his
mount to meet the viewer’s gaze, while his cousin,
King Ferdinand, is slightly behind him on the left.
CF
[End]

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Peter Snayers | Slaget vid Nördlingen III | Nationalmuseum