- Museum number
- 1895,0915.1044
- Description
-
Battle of the Standard; two soldiers struggling on horseback, while another horse attacks from right, three men on the ground fighting to left
Black chalk, touched with red, and with grey and brown wash, the sheet cut and made up in various places
- Production date
- 1602-1605
- Dimensions
-
Height: 415 millimetres
-
Width: 521 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This dynamic study shows Rubens reinvisaging elements of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Battle of Anghiari' to create a scene of his own. It is likely that Rubens made this drawing between 1602 and 1605 (Wood 2011, no.167). It is possible that his model was a now lost drawing that recorded a stage in the development of Leonardo's composition, and which continued to inspire many of Rubens' own hunting and battle scenes for the rest of his career. See for instance the Battle of the Amazons (BM, inv. no. 1895,0915.1045) and the motif of the horse about to bite another in the Battle of the Amazons of circa 1618 in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
The combination of the black chalk with the selective addition of coloured wash occurs in several other drawings that Rubens produced in these early years such as the copy after the Fire in the Borgo (see inv. no. Oo,9.23). The inscription by Rubens at the upper left has unfortunately decreased in legibility over the years, with the most translation favoured by Wood and Logan being ‘sara Medesima [.] far si colui / il corpo si alsi isu piedi sopra le staffe / per avvicinare gli nemici (make it so that he raises his body up on his feet on the stirrups… to get closer to the enemies’). A piece of paper was added at the lower left with was cut around three figures - Wood suggests that Rubens inserted this fragment from another drawing he had made after the Battle in order to repurpose it in another context. He also notes that the strange combination of media and multiple phases of the drawing's production can explain for doubts formerly raised on its attribution.
Lit: J. Rowlands, 'Rubens: Drawings and Sketches, exhibition catalogue, London, British Museum, 1977, no. 22; J. Wood, ‘Corpus Rubenianum XXVI.2.III / Copies and Adaptations from Renaissance and Later Artists: Italian Artists; III. Artists Working in Central Italy and France’, London & Turnhout 2011, no.167; A.-M. Logan with K. L. Belkin, ‘The Drawings of Peter Paul Rubens. A critical catalogue, Volume One 1590–1608’, Turnhout, 2021, no.153.
Entry from J. Rowlands, 'Rubens: Drawings & Sketches', exhibition catalogue, London, British Museum, 1977:
This appears to be an original design by Rubens inspired by Leonardo's 'Battle of Anghiari'. Motifs in this drawing occur again in the drawing of the 'Battle of the Amazons' (1895,0915.1045), such as the horse with the flowing mane, and the rearing horse seen from the front.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1977, BM, Rubens drawings and sketches, no.22
1977 Oct-Dec, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, 'Rubens in Italy', no. 28
1996/7 Sept-Jan, BM, Malcolm Collection, no.79
2002 June-Sep, Edinburgh, N.G. Scotland, 'Rubens and Italian Art'
2002 Sep-Dec, Nottingham, Djanogly Art Gall, 'Rubens and Italian Art'
2005/6 Oct-Jan, London, National Gallery, 'Rubens: A Master in the Making'
2009/10 Nov-Jan BM, P&D, 'Rubens Drawings' (no cat.)
2015 May-Aug, Tokyo, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, 'Leonardo Da Vinci and Battle of Anghiari- The Mystery of Tavola Doria'
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0915.1044
