Artiest: Lambert De Hondt The Younger
Tatum: 1675
Trootte: 63 x 89 cm
Techniek: Oil On Canvas
The attribution of the present painting and its companion is discussed in the entry of the latter, SK-A-4663. The present painting, SK-A-4662, and its companion record the opening actions of the French army in the Franco-Dutch War of 1672-78. In the left foreground of the present painting looking at the spectator is the commander. He has been described as the Vicomte de Turenne (1611-1675), Marshal of France, who led the action;12 but more convincing is the figure’s identification as the King Louis XIV (1638-1715) of France. He holds a baton as supreme commander of the French army. The features may be compared with, and was probably inspired by, either the print of 1670 by Nicolas Pitau (1634-1671) after Claude Lefebvre (1632-1675)13 or that of 1666 by Robert Nanteuil (1623-1678).14 A reserve was left in the painting for the face to be filled in. The view of the fort of Schenkenschans, which was about 540 metres long and 270 metres wide, is taken from the north-east on imaginary high-ground above the river Spyck – with Eltenenberg, Lobith and the Ameliæ fort – looking in the direction of the city of Cleves which should be in the far distance left, leading in its direction is the winding ditch/stream known as the Vosse Spuij.15 The Rhine flows from the left past Griethuijsen (Griethausen) and then divides flowing down past Tolhuijs. From the fork, the river Waal flows past Bijlandt and Bijnen.16 The land lying between the two rivers is the Over-Betuwe. The lay-out of Schenkenschans in the present painting follows in a general way that in the engravings of 1635 published by Claes Jansz Visscher (1587-1652); however, the extent of the defences on the landward side are here shown much reduced. As was suggested in the 1986 Cleves exhibition catalogue, it is unlikely that De Hondt ever visited the Lower Rhine. He probably consulted the plans published by Visscher; but none subsequently published on which he could have relied has been traced.17 Schenkenschans was built by Martin Schenck van Nydeggen (1532?-1589), lieutenant governor of Gelderland, in 1586. Although today a diminutive hamlet following the alteration of the course of the Rhine in the eighteenth century, during the Eighty Years War, it was recognized as of great strategic importance: facing upstream it controlled river traffic entering the United Provinces. The Spanish had hailed as a triumph the stronghold’s surprise capture in 1635; a long siege by the Stadholder Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647) was necessary to reclaim it. The count-duke of Olivares (1587-1645), the chief minister of King Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665), described the fort as the ‘finest jewel in those lands with which to settle his [Philip IV’s] affairs’.18 It was taken by the French in 1672, after the capture of Rheinberg, which episode is depicted in the painting’s companion, also in the Rijksmuseum collection (SK-A-4663). Further discussion can be found in that entry. Gregory Martin, 2022
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