Circle of the Van Huysum family?

Battlefield after an engagement, with wounded soldiers, cavalry and windmills in the distance.

Netherlands, late 17^th century.

Red chalk on laid paper, faintly squared in graphite. 23.5 × 16 cm.

               A remarkably accomplished battle drawing showing not the fighting itself, but its immediate aftermath. Wounded and fallen soldiers occupy the foreground, surrounded by horses and surviving troops, while further figures dissolve into a broad landscape with two windmills on the distant horizon. The restrained treatment of the subject is striking: rather than presenting warfare as spectacle, the draughtsman concentrates on its physical consequences.

The attribution proposed here is the result of an extensive comparison with Dutch, Flemish and French battle drawings of the later seventeenth century. The initial point of departure was a closely related anonymous red-chalk drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Landscape with Soldiers Helping the Wounded after a Battle (inv. 57.658.273). The Met currently catalogues the sheet as French and dates it to the seventeenth century. Like the present drawing, it depicts soldiers tending to the wounded in the aftermath of battle rather than the engagement itself and is executed entirely in red chalk.

Further comparison with the work of Jan van Huchtenburg, Adam Frans van der Meulen, Thomas Wyck, Dirk Maas, Pieter Rysbraeck, Jacques Courtois and other draughtsmen associated with military subjects failed to produce a convincing correspondence of hand. The closest parallels were instead found among red-chalk drawings by Justus van Huysum II. Particularly characteristic are the compact, somewhat angular construction of the horses and figures, the short and decisive strokes with which limbs and clothing are articulated, and the alternation between densely worked foreground passages and a much lighter treatment of the distant landscape. These affinities are sufficiently strong to propose Justus van Huysum II or an artist in his immediate circle, although an attribution to his own hand cannot at present be considered secure.

The drawing also preserves evidence of its original working process. A faint grid extends across the composition, showing that the sheet was squared for transfer, probably in preparation for another version or for enlargement. It was therefore conceived as part of a deliberate compositional process rather than simply as an informal sketch.

The combination of the unusually sombre subject, vigorous red-chalk technique, squared composition and close stylistic relationship with Justus van Huysum II makes the sheet a particularly interesting survival of late seventeenth-century Dutch military draughtsmanship.

Condition: The sheet trimmed close to the drawn framing line, with some edge wear and several small nicks and short splits, particularly along the left edge; the upper left corner slightly creased and worn. Minor surface soiling and scattered small spots, with light discolouration consistent with age. The red chalk remains strong and well preserved, with the composition clear throughout. Overall in good condition.

Higher resolution image available on request.