(Saint- Hippolyte 1621–1676 Rome)
Battle scene with cavalry between Turks and Christians; and Battle scenes with cavalry between Turks and Christians, a town beyond,
oil on canvas, each 32 x 88.5 cm, framed (2)

Provenance:
sale Sotheby's, London, 8 July 1987, lot 217;
Bizzini collection;
sale Porro, Milan, 25th February 2004, lot 57

Literature:
G. Sestrieri, I Pittori di Battaglie, Maestri italiani e stranieri del XVII e XVIII secolo, Roma 1999, p. 197 n 90, 91

The present pair of paintings are extremely fine examples of the work of the celebrated painter of battle scenes Jacques Courtois who was arguably the leading exponent of this genre. He was born in the Franche-Comté and his nickname ‘Le Bourguignon’ or in Italian ‘Il Borgognone´. From an early age of he was based in Italy and trained in Bologna, Florence, and Siena, and was settled in Rome by 1640.

The present battle scenes create a baroque sense of the dramatic and exhibit a deftness of painterly touch. In a century when military skill was greatly prized, compositions such as these displayed the human drama with an evocative atmosphere that made him much in demand. During the 1650s he travelled throughout northern Italy fulfilling commissions including The Battle of Mongiovino and The Fall of Radicofani for Prince Mattias de´Medici for the Villa di Lappeggi today in the Uffizi, Florence. In 1657 he joined the Jesuit order, but continued to paint, adding pictures with religious themes to his repertoire. His brother Guillaume (1628–79) was a well-known exponent of religious painting in Rome.

The influence of Courtois on successive painters of battle scenes is displayed a drawing by Francesco Simonini (1686-1755) which revisits one of the present compositions (see P. Consigli A. Bertolucci. F. Zeri and G. Cavazzini, La battaglia nella pittura del XVII e XVIII secolo, No. 237 p. 256, 257, 260 Silva Editore, 1994).