Battle Scene – (Philips Wouwerman) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Philips Wouwerman

Date: 1646

Size: 63 x 97 cm

Technique: Oil On Panel

A few dozen light-skinned men, some on horseback and some on foot, fight each other on a low hill in this horizontal battle scene. The men and horses are arranged in a band that crosses the horizon of the painting and swells in numbers as it moves to our right. Some men wield guns, knives, or swords as they attack each other. They wear jackets, vests, or suits in black, brown, sage green, currant red, and pale yellow. While much of the action is in chaos, a few details stand out. For instance, a man in the center of the fray lies on the ground, dead or dying. A white horse behind him steps over a second fallen man, and the rider of that horse is about to be bludgeoned. To the left of the fray, a man wearing tattered black clothing looks over his shoulder at the crowd as he lurches away. It appears that one hand may have been severely injured or even cut off, leaving a bloody stump. A large drum lies on the ground nearby. The hill where the fight takes place sweeps gently upward from the lower left corner to more than hallway up the height of the panel to the right. Flags in the hazy distance have red, white, and blue horizontal stripes and a tall, thin tree grows up the right edge of the panel to frame the scene. A pale blue sky is mostly filled with parchment-colored clouds. The artist signed the work with his initials in brown paint in the lower right corner: “PH. W.”