Skirmish among Enemy Troops
1648 - 1649. Oil on canvas.Not on display
The structure of the composition is based on parallel planes, although their arrangement lacks spatial depth. The horizon line is high. The main action unfolds in the foreground. The figures are large and their proximity enables the viewer to appreciate in detail the precise expression of emotions in the men and beasts that seem to be entangled in a frenzied disorder - which is, however, only apparent, as despite the seemingly natural positioning of the figures, the groupings stem from studied contrasting rhythms. Thus, the brown horse in the foreground has its exact counterpoint in the one in the middle ground, which a soldier grasps by the reins. The figures of men and animals are soundly modelled using precise, unloaded brushwork that becomes more impasto in the highlights. The white of the fallen hose in the immediate foreground provides a source of light and also a counterpoint to the brown and yellow tones in which the scene is painted, except for small dashes of red. These colours are not in keeping with the tradition of the Haarlem painters and reveal the influence of Caravaggism, which found its way into Haarlem through the work of Pieter van Laer, il Bamboccio (1599-after 1642). However, the arrangement of the space into three independent planes of colour is alien to Van Laer. This scene should therefore be dated to around 1648-49, the period of transition towards the personal, more sophisticated style developed by Wouwerman after shunning the naturalism of Van Laer.
Philips Wouwerman`s battle scenes are stylistically and iconographically consistent with the tradition of the Haarlem school. Indeed, the artist shows himself to be a follower of Esaias van de Velde (1587-1630), himself greatly influenced by David Vinckboons (1576-1632), who popularised the genre imported into Dutch painting by the Flemish artists Sebastian Vrancx (1573-1647) and Pieter Snayers (1592-1666). They established some of the pictorial devices employed by Van de Velde and repeated by Wouwerman, such as the white horse in the centre of the composition, the foreshortening of the fallen bodies and the fleeing soldiers. However, the manner in which the figures are grouped, the folk types and, above all, the horse model (with fat belly, curved neck, small head and powerful hooves) are taken from Pieter van Laer.
The scene depicts a skirmish between European and Oriental cavalry troops. As is usual in Wouwerman`s paintings, despite the detailed rendering of arms and uniforms and even the standard, it is a fictitious battle set in an indeterminate period and place. For example, among the Christian soldiers are musketeers without breastplates wearing characteristic helmets and others attired in the broad hats that came to replace the helmet over time. The arms depicted are all blade weapons: spears, javelins and swords. The sword wielded by the Oriental horseman to ward off the soldier attacking him with a spear is the so-called Walloon sword which was used in northern Europe in the seventeenth century.
Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Wouwerman was hailed as the finest painter of battle scenes, then one of the most coveted genres among collectors. Philip V came to own at least nine of his battle paintings.
Posada Kubissa, Teresa, Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado.Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2009, p.159-161
