Sebastiaan Vrancx Gathering of soldiers in a... Lot 1016

Sebastiaan Vrancx Gathering of soldiers in a forest clearing in front of a chapel Oil on wood. 45.2 x 66.2 cm. Provenance Austrian private collection. Exhibitions Alte Galerie, Universalmuseum Joanneum Graz/Schloss Eggenberg, on loan; April 2019 to November 2023. The composition shows a group of horsemen and foot soldiers, either professional soldiers or local militia, gathered in a forest clearing in a Flemish landscape. Among them are cuirassiers, arquebusiers, musketeers and pikemen. This very well-preserved panel painting is an excellent example of the military genre painting for which Sebastiaan Vrancx was so famous. It was probably his military experience as an officer and later captain of the Antwerp City Guard that enabled Vrancx to depict the clothing and equipment of soldiers and their military actions in such detail as in this painting. Vrancx's multi-figure "Army Camp" in the Hamburger Kunsthalle (inv. no. HK-334), dated 1617, is closely related to the present painting in terms of composition and is a clue to a possible dating. There are also similarities to the painting "Überfall" in Aschaffenburg Castle Johannisburg (inv. no. 6295), which is dated 1610. It is possible that the present painting was created before 1617, when the Antwerp panel makers' guild introduced the city's coat of arms (two hands and a citadel) as a mark of quality on the reverse of panels. This brand is missing on the reverse of the panel. Another version of the theme entitled "Cavalry and Footmen in front of a Chapel" can be found in Gotha, Schlossmuseum Schloss Friedenstein, Gemäldesammlung (inv. no. SG 715). This panel painting of somewhat smaller dimensions is monogrammed SV (on the horse in the center). The commanding officer on the white horse in the middle of the picture has been replaced by a knight in armor in the Gotha version, otherwise the two pictures are almost identical. The central group of four horsemen with the officer in armor on the white horse, together with the two soldiers encamped to their right, is a recurring motif in both Vrancx's and David Vinckboon's work. It can be assumed that Vrancx adopted this composition from his Amsterdam contemporary. Klaus Ertz has listed several of these compositions by Vinckboons in his monograph entitled "Waldlichtung mit Vorbereitung auf einen Überfall" (K. Ertz: David Vinckboons, Lingen 2016, cat. nos. 47-52). Vrancx repeated this central group in several mostly portrait-format paintings (cf. e.g. Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv. no. DPG356). The question arises as to whether Vrancx depicted a specific historical event in this painting. Joost Vander Auwera, who confirmed the attribution to Vrancx (written communication dated 12.3.2024), denies this. Paintings by Vrancx are largely invented scenarios with no topographical reference to a specific historical event with anonymous commanders.