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Lot Essay
Born in Amsterdam in the mid-1590s to Flemish immigrants, Paulus van Hillegaert specialized in landscape paintings, a large number of which depict military engagements or other historical events. The present painting, long thought to be by the Flemish painter Pieter Snayers (1592-1667), perfectly exemplifies Hillegaert's approach to battle paintings. Hillegaert seamlessly combines an elevated foreground – populated by soldiers, cavalrymen and an entourage of camp followers – with a carefully delineated topographical portrait of the battlefield in the distance. Hillegaert’s paintings found particular favor among patriotic Dutchmen. By glorifying the actions of the Dutch army, and especially its leader Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange (1584-1647), the painter not only documented their actions for posterity but bolstered their status by visualizing their heroic and patriotic endeavors on the battlefield.
Frederik Hendrik’s crowning achievement in his military campaign against Habsburg forces during the Eighty Years’ War was his siege and subsequent capture of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1629. In an attempt to punish the Dutch following the Twelve Years’ Truce (1612-1621), the Habsburgs tried to cut the Republic off by a land blockade. Given its strategic position and seemingly impregnable marshy surrounds – Frederik Hendrik’s elder half-brother, Maurits (1567-1625), had previously failed twice when attempting to take the city – ‘s-Hertogenbosch became the main fortress along the Habsburg perimeter. In the spring of 1629, Frederik Hendrik led an army composed of more than 40,000 troops, roughly one-third of which were allied English and Scottish forces, from the east. Rather than employ traditional siege methods, he devised a forty-kilometer dike that diverted the Dommel and the Aa, the two main streams that fed the surrounding marshland, around the city to completely enclose the fortress. Using horse-powered mills, he then began to drain the resulting polder. Once the land had sufficiently dried out, his forces were able to more easily approach the city walls. At the same time, allied forces ceaselessly bombarded ‘s-Hertogenbosch’s defenses from the direction of Vught to the south. On 18 July, Protestant forces captured the large Fort Isabella and the following day the smaller Fort Anthony. Over the course of the next two months, they made their way to the bastion’s Vught Gate and on 11 September succeeded in breaching its ramparts. Three days later, Anthonie Schetz, baron of Grobbendonk (1564-1640/1) and military governor of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, surrendered the city.
Hillegaert treated the Siege of ‘s-Hertogenbosch on a number of occasions. In addition to the present painting, there are today examples at Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn (on loan from the Geschiedkundige Vereniging Oranje-Nassau); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and Legermuseum, Delft. With the notable exception of one of the two paintings in the Rijksmuseum, which depicts the defeated Spanish garrison leaving ‘s-Hertogenbosch, each of the others is viewed from the encampment at Vught. The example on loan to Het Loo is dated 1631 and the other examples have generally been dated to the first half of the 1630s, which seems equally appropriate for this painting.
Here, Frederik Hendrik, atop a gray horse, wears an olive green hat, jerkin and riding pants as he leads a cavalcade up a hill. Several figures in his retinue wear orange, confirming their allegiance to the House of Orange. A stylized depiction of the Lambertuskerk in Vught is visible in the central middle ground, while directly beyond the church is the star-shaped fortification of Fort Isabella. Fort Anthony can be seen in the painting’s background, just in front and to the left of the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, identifiable by the fifteenth-century gothic Sint-Janskathedraal which dominates its skyline. The Dommel bisects the foreground landscape as it meanders toward ‘s-Hertogenbosch, while the Aa can be seen in the painting's distant right background.
Frederik Hendrik’s crowning achievement in his military campaign against Habsburg forces during the Eighty Years’ War was his siege and subsequent capture of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1629. In an attempt to punish the Dutch following the Twelve Years’ Truce (1612-1621), the Habsburgs tried to cut the Republic off by a land blockade. Given its strategic position and seemingly impregnable marshy surrounds – Frederik Hendrik’s elder half-brother, Maurits (1567-1625), had previously failed twice when attempting to take the city – ‘s-Hertogenbosch became the main fortress along the Habsburg perimeter. In the spring of 1629, Frederik Hendrik led an army composed of more than 40,000 troops, roughly one-third of which were allied English and Scottish forces, from the east. Rather than employ traditional siege methods, he devised a forty-kilometer dike that diverted the Dommel and the Aa, the two main streams that fed the surrounding marshland, around the city to completely enclose the fortress. Using horse-powered mills, he then began to drain the resulting polder. Once the land had sufficiently dried out, his forces were able to more easily approach the city walls. At the same time, allied forces ceaselessly bombarded ‘s-Hertogenbosch’s defenses from the direction of Vught to the south. On 18 July, Protestant forces captured the large Fort Isabella and the following day the smaller Fort Anthony. Over the course of the next two months, they made their way to the bastion’s Vught Gate and on 11 September succeeded in breaching its ramparts. Three days later, Anthonie Schetz, baron of Grobbendonk (1564-1640/1) and military governor of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, surrendered the city.
Hillegaert treated the Siege of ‘s-Hertogenbosch on a number of occasions. In addition to the present painting, there are today examples at Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn (on loan from the Geschiedkundige Vereniging Oranje-Nassau); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and Legermuseum, Delft. With the notable exception of one of the two paintings in the Rijksmuseum, which depicts the defeated Spanish garrison leaving ‘s-Hertogenbosch, each of the others is viewed from the encampment at Vught. The example on loan to Het Loo is dated 1631 and the other examples have generally been dated to the first half of the 1630s, which seems equally appropriate for this painting.
Here, Frederik Hendrik, atop a gray horse, wears an olive green hat, jerkin and riding pants as he leads a cavalcade up a hill. Several figures in his retinue wear orange, confirming their allegiance to the House of Orange. A stylized depiction of the Lambertuskerk in Vught is visible in the central middle ground, while directly beyond the church is the star-shaped fortification of Fort Isabella. Fort Anthony can be seen in the painting’s background, just in front and to the left of the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, identifiable by the fifteenth-century gothic Sint-Janskathedraal which dominates its skyline. The Dommel bisects the foreground landscape as it meanders toward ‘s-Hertogenbosch, while the Aa can be seen in the painting's distant right background.