Dutch or Flemish school of the late seventeenth century.

Dutch or Flemish school of the late seventeenth century.
"Battle".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 125 x 165 cm; 135 x 175 cm (frame).

We are before a work that revives, with eloquent dramatism and compositional mastery, a historical episode (probably of the Eighty Years' War) but that transcends the concrete fact to transmit the visual ethos of the war in the convulsive times of the XVII century in the Netherlands.

This painting, firmly rooted in the models of Sebastiaen Vrancx (a key figure of the 17th century Flemish panorama, specializing in the battle genre) displays a visual narrative as dynamic as it is meticulously constructed. Other close references could be Pieter Snayers, Esaias van de Velde or Adam Frans van der Meulen.

The composition is markedly panoramic, conceived as a wide war frieze in which each figure contributes to the theatricality of the whole. The battlefield opens on a horizontal axis that extends to the horizon, where clouds and smoke melt into an uncertain haze, evoking the climax of the conflict and suggesting a charged atmosphere, suspended between gunpowder and sky.

The scene develops with a centrifugal organization: the horsemen burst in from different flanks, in violent diagonals that break the stability of the scene. Horses foreshortened, others in flight or knocked down, introduce a convulsive, almost choreographic rhythm. The foreground is populated by figures that allow a dramatic reading of emotions: faces unhinged by terror and eyes that reflect the intensity of the final instant. This emphasis on gestural psychology is typical of Vrancx and of the Flemish tradition in general. One of the sides is adorned with burnished armor that captures the light with remarkable technical virtuosity.

The space is organized in superimposed planes, with a gradual transition from the large-scale figures in the foreground to the warrior miniatures in the distance. This inverted pyramidal structure, typical of Vrancx, guides the eye through the chaos to a horizon filled with equestrian silhouettes, raised banners and subtle columns of smoke that fade into the sky.