Cavalry Engagement against the Turks, with a Church in the Background
1715
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1715
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Cavalry Engagement against the Turks, with a Church in the Background is a 1715 paint by Jan Pieter van Bredael, a Baroque work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a chaotic cavalry fight with soldiers on horseback and a church in the background. The clash happens during the 1715 war against the Turks. The soldiers’ costumes help tell who’s who—some wear Turkish-style gear. Bredael often painted war scenes for wealthy patrons. He worked in Prague for Prince Eugene of Savoy, who loved battle paintings. This scene feels dramatic but not overly fancy. Check out another painting by Bredael, Jan Pieter van.
The painting depicts a chaotic cavalry skirmish between Turkish and European soldiers in the foreground, with corpses and fleeing figures emphasizing the violence of the encounter. Trees occupy the right side of the composition, while a distant city provides a backdrop to the scene. The artist employs vivid colors and loose brushwork, typical of his style, though the specific battle remains unidentified. Such generic ambushes were a common subject in 17th- and 18th-century European battle art, often portraying conflicts between Christians and Turks without precise historical context.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jan Pieter van Bredael the Younger or Jan Peeter van Bredael the Younger (27 July 1683 – 1735) was a Flemish painter known for his cavalry battle scenes and landscapes with genre scenes of village festivals and fairs.
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