Cornelis Troost (Dutch, 1696-1750) Cavalry Skirmish
graphite, pen and brushpoint with carbon ink and grey wash Unframed: 11.6 x 19.6 cm. (4 5/8 x 7 3/4 in.)Provenance: Private Collection, U.K.Notes: This animated drawing underscores Troost’s compositional brilliance, heavily emphasising the drama of an intense cavalry skirmish at close quarters. The dynamic tension focuses around the central horseman, caught mid-charge and facing his enemies whose horses rear in chaos. Troost’s characteristic theatrical flair is evident in the striking poses and the billowing clouds of artillery smoke around and behind them, from which the ghostlike drummer at the left gradually emerges. The technique is identical to that of a slightly more finished drawing similar in size (13.4 x19.2 cm) of a skirmish between cavalry and infantry, sold at Sotheby’s, Amsterdam for €2,369 (The Unicorno Collection, 19 May 2004, lot 244). In each case Troost applied dark fluid contour lines with the point of the brush. Strokes of soft grey wash layered onto the bodies of the horses establish their volume and musculature; their manes and tails are rendered with wild, curving strokes that rhythmically mirror the chaos of battle. The way Troost captures the muscular tension of the horses’ legs is highly distinctive. Whether their joints are taut or folded as horses rear, leap, or struggle to throw their riders to the ground, Troost paid great attention to outlining their precise skeletal structure and defining the muscles and tendons of the legs in dark wash with a fine brush, but without losing the rapid, fluid rhythm of the overall composition. Having initially trained as an actor, Troost turned to painting in 1723. He studied under the renowned portraitist Arnold Boonen, and rapidly won fame for his depictions of performances at the Amsterdam theatre, as well as designing stage sets. With his paintings, drawings and prints of witty and bawdy genre scenes – for example Prince Eugene of Savoy vetting Courtesans (Rijksmuseum RP-T-1899-A-4220) - combined with his skills as a portraitist, Troost also became a favourite of the city’s élite. He occasionally created monumental grand-scale historical works, notably his famous masterpiece of 1737 depicting Alexander the Great at the Battle of the Granicus. As for the drawings under discussion, they possibly relate to the War of the Austrian Succession. His earliest known treatment of a military subject is dated 1736, while the others are dated post-1740. Most prominent among these works are depictions of soldiers relaxing in guardrooms and taverns. While Troost himself may have been familiar with the environments of guardrooms through personal encounters, his depictions of active military engagements and battles seem to rely on the visions of other artists, albeit superficially; Troost endows his works with his own personal touch and treatment of the figures. The present drawing is an important addition to Troost’s oeuvre, because up to now, only four drawings of battle scenes by him are known (see J.W. Niemeijer, Cornelis Troost; 1696-1750, Assen 1973, p. 93, cat. no. 776T). The inscription in the lower right corner is definitely autograph, as is clear upon comparing the calligraphic “I” with the vertical bar of the letter “T” in Troost’s signature on the Sotheby’s drawing, and the shape of the number “2” (Figs. 2-3). Such notations are commonly found on 18th-century Dutch drawings. The first character is a conventional cursive capital “I” or “J”; the two letters were orthographically interchangeable in archival script of this period. The ‘fraction’ (½) confirms that this drawing had a companion sheet: either the second half of a two-part composition, possibly a continuous panorama of the skirmish; or part of a matching pair of tactical scenes, perhaps the aftermath to the skirmish or a counter-composition showing a secondary flank of the battle.
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graphite, pen and brushpoint with carbon ink and grey wash Unframed: 11.6 x 19.6 cm. (4 5/8 x 7 3/4 in.)Provenance: Private Collection, U.K.Notes: This animated drawing underscores Troost’s compositional brilliance, heavily emphasising the drama of an intense cavalry skirmish at close quarters. The dynamic tension focuses around the central horseman, caught mid-charge and facing his enemies whose horses rear in chaos. Troost’s characteristic theatrical flair is evident in the striking poses and the billowing clouds of artillery smoke around and behind them, from which the ghostlike drummer at the left gradually emerges. The technique is identical to that of a slightly more finished drawing similar in size (13.4 x19.2 cm) of a skirmish between cavalry and infantry, sold at Sotheby’s, Amsterdam for €2,369 (The Unicorno Collection, 19 May 2004, lot 244). In each case Troost applied dark fluid contour lines with the point of the brush. Strokes of soft grey wash layered onto the bodies of the horses establish their volume and musculature; their manes and tails are rendered with wild, curving strokes that rhythmically mirror the chaos of battle. The way Troost captures the muscular tension of the horses’ legs is highly distinctive. Whether their joints are taut or folded as horses rear, leap, or struggle to throw their riders to the ground, Troost paid great attention to outlining their precise skeletal structure and defining the muscles and tendons of the legs in dark wash with a fine brush, but without losing the rapid, fluid rhythm of the overall composition. Having initially trained as an actor, Troost turned to painting in 1723. He studied under the renowned portraitist Arnold Boonen, and rapidly won fame for his depictions of performances at the Amsterdam theatre, as well as designing stage sets. With his paintings, drawings and prints of witty and bawdy genre scenes – for example Prince Eugene of Savoy vetting Courtesans (Rijksmuseum RP-T-1899-A-4220) - combined with his skills as a portraitist, Troost also became a favourite of the city’s élite. He occasionally created monumental grand-scale historical works, notably his famous masterpiece of 1737 depicting Alexander the Great at the Battle of the Granicus. As for the drawings under discussion, they possibly relate to the War of the Austrian Succession. His earliest known treatment of a military subject is dated 1736, while the others are dated post-1740. Most prominent among these works are depictions of soldiers relaxing in guardrooms and taverns. While Troost himself may have been familiar with the environments of guardrooms through personal encounters, his depictions of active military engagements and battles seem to rely on the visions of other artists, albeit superficially; Troost endows his works with his own personal touch and treatment of the figures. The present drawing is an important addition to Troost’s oeuvre, because up to now, only four drawings of battle scenes by him are known (see J.W. Niemeijer, Cornelis Troost; 1696-1750, Assen 1973, p. 93, cat. no. 776T). The inscription in the lower right corner is definitely autograph, as is clear upon comparing the calligraphic “I” with the vertical bar of the letter “T” in Troost’s signature on the Sotheby’s drawing, and the shape of the number “2” (Figs. 2-3). Such notations are commonly found on 18th-century Dutch drawings. The first character is a conventional cursive capital “I” or “J”; the two letters were orthographically interchangeable in archival script of this period. The ‘fraction’ (½) confirms that this drawing had a companion sheet: either the second half of a two-part composition, possibly a continuous panorama of the skirmish; or part of a matching pair of tactical scenes, perhaps the aftermath to the skirmish or a counter-composition showing a secondary flank of the battle.
Please make sure condition report requests are submitted at least 24hrs before the sale. They are replied to on a first come first served basis. Please login or create an account to view/request condition reports
