(Antwerp 1573–1647)
A wooded landscape with Spanish cavalry on a track,
signed with monogram on the rump of the central brown horse: SV,
oil on panel, 70 x 89 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection;
art market, France;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Joost Vander Auwera for confirming the attribution after inspection of the original.

The present composition showing a troop of Habsburg cavalry, either professional Spanish soldiers, or local militia, conducting a patrol through the Flemish countryside is a fine example of the military genre scene for which Sebastiaen Vrancx was so renowned. Unlike many of his other works, the topography does not appear to indicate a particular battle, and was likely executed before 1617, when the Antwerp panel makers guild introduced the brand of the city (two severed hands and a citadel) as a quality mark on the reverse of panels, which do not feature on the reverse of the present panel. Vrancx captures perfectly the rearing of the restless war horse to the left, contrasted with the gentler actions of the various troopers dismounting and resting nearby. The artist has characteristically signed with his monogram on the rump of the brown steed in the centre. According to Joost Vander Auwera, Vrancx had a predilection for equestrian painting, and was pre-occupied with cold blooded breeds such as Andalusians and Neapolitans, which predated the introduction of warm-blooded breads such as Arabians. The mounted officer in the present work can be identified by his crimson sash. Vrancx himself served with the Spanish as a captain of ‘escimers’ or fencers of the Antwerp militia from 1626–31 (and so was portrayed by Anthony van Dyck with his sword prominently displayed). The current work, with its arresting attention to detail, such as the uniforms, equipment and various personal narratives of the troopers, recalls also the depictions by Vrancx of the costumes of burghers at fairs or villagers at kermesses.

In addition to Vrancx’s artistic and military career in Flanders, he is believed to have been active briefly in Italy. Although scant evidence of Vrancx’s trip south of the Alps remains, his position as dean of Antwerp’s Confrérie van Romanisten, of whom van Dyck and Rubens were also members, for which a visit to Rome was a precursor, bears witness that he must have made the journey south, and where he would have become acquainted with the heroic equestrian statuary. Also apparent in the present panel is the sense of drama typical of a member of the Antwerp chamber of the rhetoric, Violieren, to whom Vrancx and his collaborators Frans Francken II and Jan Brueghel II also belonged. A letter of 1634, from Brueghel to his business partner in Seville, assured him that: ‘Vrancx has plenty to do but refuses to employ studio assistants, which means that work takes a long time. He does not allow copies to be put into circulation,’ although we of course only have Brueghel’s word for this. (see H. Gerson and E. H. ter Kuile, Art and Architecture in Belgium, 1600–1800, Harmondsworth 1960, p. 63, note 33).