Battle Scene

1630 · Victoria and Albert Museum, London

other

The painting shows a battle scene presented as warfare rather than proper combat. A lone tree in the foreground is used as a repoussoir device so as to draw the attention on the riding soldier, about to join the tangle of soldiers fighting in the background, as well as to provide the picture with a stronger sense of depth.

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About the Artist

Jan the Younger Martszen

1609 – 1647

Jan Martszen the Younger (Jan Martszen de Jonge), Dutch engraver and painter. He was the son of the Haarlem painter Jacobus Martens (1579/80-1647) and the nephew and pupil of Esaias van de Velde. He was active in Haarlem, Amsterdam, and Delft. He specialised in military skirmishes scenes and provided, during the 1630s and 1640s, a series of design for prints published in Amsterdam by Pieter Nolpe (1613/14-1652/3), sharing commissions at times with Pieter and Paulus Potter, Pieter Quast and Bartholomeus Breenbergh. He was the presumed master of Jan Asselyn, leading member of the 'second generation' of Dutch Italianate painters, who started as a battle painter.

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