print
- Museum number
- 1933,0610.10
- Description
-
Military figures outside a city; a man wearing a breastplate leaning on a drum next to military trophies, a woman and a man on the left, and a swordsman seen from behind on the right; two women walking and a fortified city in the background. 1612/6
Etching with stipple
- Production date
- 1612-1616
- Dimensions
-
Height: 279 millimetres
-
Width: 224 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Text by Craig Hartley from 'Jacques Bellange, Printmaker of Lorraine', BM 1997, cat.39)
One of two plates (see also Walch 6) with a very similar engraved inscription (no impressions survive without the inscription). Together with the fact that they were consistently printed in later editions on a group of papers none of which were used for any of Bellange's other prints, this suggests that these two plates remained together and separate from the rest. Although Thuillier presumes that the inscriptions were added by a publisher after Bellange's death, this may not have been the case. It was certainly not the case, as Thuillier suggests, that they were added in Paris, as the paper used for impressions of these plates bears watermarks (like the double C with the cross of Lorraine on the paper of this impression) which suggests that they were published in Lorraine. We know that a certain number of plates most probably left Bellange's studio before his death, so these two are very likely candidates.
In the light of all this it may be no accident that both plates portray secular scenes, and it is tempting to trace a narrative in this print to complement the episode from Roman history portrayed in Walch 6. However, no precise subject has been satisfactorily identified and Worthen (in Worthen-Reed) and Thuillier are probably right to conclude that it is a 'capriccio', relating to the type of antique-costumed military subjects popular around 1600. Interpretations have ranged from the vague Encampment scene (Walch) to attempts to associate it with a specific narrative, such as Judith and her servant in the camp of Holofernes, or an allegory of Mars and Bellona. Walch argues that the seated figure is more likely masculine than feminine. This led Worthen to try to trace the subject in a cycle of paintings executed by Ambroise Dubois for the Cabinet de la Reine at Fontainebleau in about 1605, depicting the story of Clorinda from Torquato Tasso's popular epic, Gerusalemme liberata, first published in 1581. Worthen points out that Bellange was likely to have seen the cycle on his trip to Paris in 1608. But although there are close similarities of pose between the standing and reclining figures and those in two of Dubois' paintings, these figures could equally have been adapted from other sources (various figures in mannerist prints are quite close in pose, see Muller's figure of Perseus, Bartsch 69), and Bellange used them himself in other contexts. In any case, as Worthen concludes, it is clear that Bellange has not illustrated a specific incident from Tasso, and if the print has a narrative content it must be sought elsewhere. Thuillier observes that the fact that the city in the background does not appear to be under siege seems to rule out an episode from either Tasso or from the Iliad.
The poses and relationship of the reclining figure and the standing soldier recall the figure of Saint Lucy and the soldier to the right of her; indeed the figure here almost seems as though he is in need of a step on which to position his left foot. A similar standing figure occurs in The carrying of the Cross where we also find a recurrence of the extraordinary hat worn by the figure on the left. The manner of etching is also very close to Walch 16 and 23, particularly the hatching and burnished stippling of the standing figure, and the more lightly etched grey background. These prints were probably etched around the same time.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1933
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased at the sale by Colnaghi's for the BM, and subsequently funded by a gift of £25 from H L Farrer
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1933,0610.10