JAN ASSELIJN (Dutch, c. 1610-1652). Battle Scene, 1635. Oil on canvas. 26 x 35 inches (66.0 x 88.9 cm). Signed and dated...

Description

JAN ASSELIJN (Dutch, c. 1610-1652)
Battle Scene, 1635
Oil on canvas
26 x 35 inches (66.0 x 88.9 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: Jan Aslein 1635

PROVENANCE:
The Estate of Dr. George Nettles, Harrison, Arkansas.

Although best known for his light-suffused, Arcadian landscapes in the manner of Claude Lorraine, Jan Asselijn, a premiere second-generation "Dutch Italianate," began and ended his career in his native Holland. He was born in Dieppe around 1610 and at an early age studied battle painting in Amsterdam with Jan Martszen the Younger. A move to Rome in 1635 introduced Asselijn to a new pastoral vocabulary: classical ruins, shepherds and animals, and harbors and rolling countryside. During his seven years here, he maintained his Dutch heritage through his nickname, "Krabbetje" ("little crab," after his deformed right hand) and through his affiliation with a circle of Northern European artists, the Bentvueghels. Asselijn then lived in Lyons and Paris for two years before returning to Amsterdam around 1647, where he began coupling Dutch subjects with Italianate light. Rembrandt van Rijn considered Asselijn a friend and colleague and etched his portrait in 1648.

Battle Scene from 1635 exemplifies Asselijn's oeuvre pre-Italy, when, under the tutelage of Jan Martszen the Younger, he was experimenting with figures and animals in motion and panoramic landscapes. 1635 marked the final stages of the Eighty Years War (1568-1648), Holland's successful rupture from Spanish control, resulting in the establishment of an independent republic. As in his other paintings of this war, Asselijn here utilizes a lone tree as a repoussoir device, focusing attention on a foreground tangle of soldiers in various physical and emotional states - whether brandishing weapons, falling from horses, or languishing on the ground. A backdrop of turbulent clouds underscores the human drama with which Asselijn was so clearly fascinated.



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