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Battle Scene

Pauwels Casteels

Basic information

ID: Ж-2608
Author: Pauwels Casteels
Name: Battle Scene
Technique: oil painting
Material: wood oil
Dimensions: 59.8 x 76 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: battle painting
Plot: Battle
Provenance: Collection of Lviv City Gallery
Exposition: Potocki Palace

Information about author

Author: Pauwels Casteels
Artist's lifetime: 1625 – after 1677
Country: Flanders
Biography: Pauwels Casteels was a Flemish Baroque painter and draughtsman. He gained recognition for his dynamic battle scenes, as well as landscapes depicting mythological and biblical themes.
Born in Antwerp around 1625, he was admitted to the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as a "wijnmeester" (son of a master) in 1649. During the period of 1656–1657, he registered his own apprentice, Jan-Batista Marien. He was likely a relative of another prominent battle painter, Alexander Casteels the Elder (c. 1635–1681), with whom he shared a highly similar painterly style. In his depiction of combat scenes and choice of palette, Casteels was significantly influenced by the eminent Flemish battle masters Pieter Snayers (1592–1667) and Pieter Meulener (1602–1654).
He collaborated with the renowned Antwerp art-dealing firm of the Forchondt family (Willem Forchondt, 1608–1678). Consequently, his battle paintings were in high demand across Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in Vienna.
Pauwels Casteels produced both large-scale, multi-figure canvases featuring cavalry skirmishes and sieges, and cabinet works executed on copper plates depicting mythological subjects. The artist's signature style is characterised by a meticulous rendering of historical costumes, weaponry, equipment, and horses shown in complex foreshortening.

Object description

The artwork is a battle painting that reconstructs a dramatic episode of a siege and assault on a stone fortress by 17th-century troops. The composition is structured as a multi-figure panoramic spectacle with a low horizon, featuring a dynamic unfolding of events in the foreground and middle ground.
In the left section of the painting, a fortress with a drawbridge rises above the scene. Near the gates, a fierce combat rages between cavalrymen and infantry forces. At the centre of the composition, a cannon battery is depicted, protected by woven fascines. In the foreground, Casteels realistically portrays the casualties of the battle: wounded and fallen soldiers clad in vibrant attire lie scattered amidst helmets, discarded weaponry, and barrels. In the background, upon distant green hills, cavalry formations are visible, rendered as staffage.
The ominous sky filled with swirling clouds heightens the overall drama of the warfare.

Inscriptions

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Battle Scene

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