4.600 €
A cavalry skirmish
Oil on canvas : 30,8 X 48,5 cm
Signed bottom left “JHughtenburgh”
(the J and H form one letter)
Frame : 59,5 X 67,4 cm
In short
Jan van Huchtenburg was one of the major battle scene painters at a time when the European continent was ravaged by numerous wars: the last quarter of the 17th and the first quarter of the 18th century.
In his realistic, detailed style he could perfectly portray horses and the intensity of battle.
About Jan van Huchtenburg
Dutch painter
Haarlem 1647 – 1733 Amsterdam
Famous horse painter and painter of battle scenes.
His last name is sometimes spelt van Huchtenburgh.
Probably pupil of Thomas Wijck, who was just three years older than him.
Jan was the younger brother of Jacob (1644 – 1675), who had studied painting under the Italianate landscape painter Nicolaes Berchem. Jacob stayed between 1662 and 1667 in Rome. On his way back to Holland he remained for more than a year in Paris, where both brothers must have met up.
Our Jan van Huchtenburg stayed in Paris between 1667 and 1669, where he was a collaborator of the celebrated Flemish horse and battle scene painter Adam Frans van der Meulen (1632 – 1690). Van der Meulen worked for Charles Le Brun (1619 – 1690), court painter of King Louis XIV and director of the Gobelins Manufactory (that produced the King’s tapestries).
Our painter is documented in his native Haarlem between 1669 and 1671; he married here in 1670 a daughter of the Italianate landscape painter Hendrick Mommers. Between 1676 and 1717 he lived in Amsterdam; his wife died here in 1701. He lived in The Hague from 1717 until 1730, when he returned to Amsterdam. He lived there with his daughter Anna Maria until his death three years later in 1733.
Van Huchtenburg had many important clients: amongst these stand out Pieter de la Court in Leiden, the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz in Dusseldorf, but above all he worked often for Prince Eugene of Savoy. He accompanied the Prince on his military campaigns as field marshal of the Austrian Habsburg emperors Leopold I, Joseph I and Charles VI since 1707 (when the Prince was made governor of Milan). Between 1712 and 1717 van Huchtenburg painted a famous series of ten large-scale battles that the Prince had fought in during the period 1708/1709. These paintings hang now in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin.
About the War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession (1701 – 1714) was fought all over Europe, especially in Italy, Germany and the Low Countries. It followed the childless death of King Charles II of Spain in 1700.
Both the French King Louis XIV and the Austrian Habsburg Emperor Leopold claimed the throne for a member of their family. The Spanish empire included large territories in Italy, but also Flanders, the Americas and the Philippines. Many European states hated King Louis XIV of France because of his expansionist policy; they were afraid that a unified France and Spain would be too powerful. The War opposed France, Spain and Bavaria against the Grand Alliance of Austria, the Dutch Republic, Great Britain, Prussia, Savoy and Portugal. Terrible battles with large numbers of soldiers were fought.
The greatest military commanders and most brilliant strategists of the Grand Alliance were John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (he never lost a battle, but was sadly not interested in art) and Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663 – 1736), who was a refined intellectual and passionate collector of books, prints, paintings, exotica, etc.
Later in his career van Huchtenburg regularly painted scenes of the wars that opposed Austrian and Turkish armies, as his most important patron, Prince Eugene of Savoy, was fighting in these wars.
Why should you buy this painting?
Because van Huchtenburgh has perfectly captured the focus of the main figures in this clash. He was such a great horse painter.
Comparative paintings
Click photos for more details
