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Battle of Amstelveen on 1 October 1787

Daniel Chodowiecki

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-2703
Author: Daniel Chodowiecki
Name: Battle of Amstelveen on 1 October 1787
Country: Germany
Technique: etching
Material: paper
Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: battle painting
Plot: Battle
Provenance: Purchased from O. Bushel, 1977

Information about author

Author: Daniel Chodowiecki
Artist's lifetime: 1726–1801
Country: Poland, Germany
Biography: Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726, Gdańsk – 1801, Berlin) – a Polish-German artist, printmaker and painter, a master of etching and book illustration, a representative of the academic movement, and one of the leading exponents of sentimentalism in 18th-century German art.
The artist's father was a merchant, a descendant of a noble family. His mother came from a family of Swiss Huguenots. The young Daniel, continuing the family tradition, began working as a merchant. At the age of 17, he went to Berlin for a commercial apprenticeship, where he spent most of his life. Towards the end of his career, he became the director of the Prussian Academy of Arts (Preußische Akademie der Künste).
In the 1750s, the artist developed an interest in painting, and later in printmaking, becoming one of the leading book illustrators. Between 1770 and 1774, together with Johann Bernhard Basedow, the founder of the philanthropic movement in education, he worked on the four-volume publication "Elementary Textbook for Young People" ("Elementarwerk für die Jugend"). Chodowiecki created over 100 illustrations for it using the copper engraving technique, including some dedicated to the Crusades.
In 1781, the artist produced 12 illustrations for a play by Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann entitled "No More Than Six Dishes" ("Nicht mehr als sechs Schüsseln"). This comedy, with its strongly social-critical undertones, is considered one of the earliest outstanding dramatic works in German bourgeois literature.
Around 2,000 engravings by Chodowiecki on various subjects, executed in the techniques of etching and copper engraving, have survived to this day. One of his contemporaries wrote that, were it not for Chodowiecki's illustrations, countless books would never have found their readers. The artist created a large number of painted and graphic portraits, as well as genre scenes of burgher life, mostly executed in pen and ink. The total number of the artist's surviving drawings amounts to around 4,000.
Daniel Chodowiecki's works are held in Germany – at the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin, the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig, and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt; in Poland – at the National Museum in Gdańsk; in Ukraine – at Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, Vasyl Stefanyk Lviv National Scientific Library of Ukraine and the Kharkiv Art Museum, as well as in museums in Washington, Madrid and London.

Object description

The artist has depicted the decisive battle between the Prussian troops, who supported the restoration to power in Holland of Stadtholder William of Orange, and the democratic rebels who opposed him. The battle took place near the town of Amstelveen, located a few kilometres from Amsterdam. The print depicts a dynamic battle scene, with two cavalrymen in the foreground. Leading them is likely the commander of the Prussian army – Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick. On a rearing white horse and wearing a bicorn hat, he has stretched out his arm with a sword, calling to battle. The horseman galloping to his right is depicted wearing a long cap. Perhaps this is how the Dutch soldiers – supporters of the Orangists – looked. On the left is another cavalryman wearing a similar headdress, riding towards the enemy. In the background, clouds of smoke can be seen, through which the slender tower of a Protestant church, topped with a weathercock, emerges in the distance. On the ground to the left lies a dead or wounded warrior, with a drum and pieces of equipment beside him. The battle ended in victory for the Prussians and the Orangists. William V of Orange returned to power, albeit briefly.
The number "8" in the top right corner indicates the serial number in the printed series of one of the German almanac calendars, such as the "Gothaischer Hofkalender". This print is known, in particular, from the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

Inscriptions

Below the image is the title of the work in German: "Action bey Amstelveen den 1. Oct. 1787". In the top right, the number "8" is engraved. On the reverse, at the bottom – the inventory number of the Lviv Picture Gallery written in pencil.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Battle of Amstelveen on 1 October 1787

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