JAN PEETER VERDUSSEN

CAVALRY SKIRMISH

JAN PEETER VERDUSSEN
Antwerp, c. 1700 – Avignon, 1763

Pencil and red chalk on laid paper
22.5 × 34.5 cm / 8.85 × 13.58 inches; with frame: 43.5 × 54 cm / 17.12 × 21.25 inches

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Denmark

In the 18th century, battle drawings held a special place in European artistic culture. These works were valued not only as preparatory steps towards paintings, but also as independent creations, allowing the artist to convey the dynamism of combat and the drama of the moment with rare immediacy.
In France, the battle genre experienced a true flourishing during the century. While French art gave it an aristocratic sheen, its origins lay in the rich heritage of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painting. It is therefore not surprising that masters from Flanders and the Netherlands achieved great success in France, such as the celebrated dynasty of painters Van Blarenberghe.
Within this context, the figure of Jan Peeter Verdussen (Antwerp, c. 1700 – Avignon, 1763) stands apart, having tied his career not to Paris but to Marseille. The son of the battle painter Peter Verdussen, he received his first artistic training in the family workshop, steeped in the traditions of Philips Wouwerman and Adam Frans van der Meulen. After working at the court of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (1743–1746), he settled in France, where he is mentioned in Marseille as early as 1745. In 1759, he became a member, and later director, of the local Academy.
His contemporaries held his talent in high esteem. On June 7, 1762, Moulinneuf wrote to Dandré-Bardon:
“M. Verdussen presented us with a battle painting […] that can be regarded as his masterpiece, executed with a fine brush and admirable colour. This painting does honour to its author, who has received compliments for it from all our connoisseurs […].”
Dandré-Bardon replied:
“I congratulate you on the magnificent gift made by M. Verdussen. His reputation is for me a sure guarantee of the merit you ascribe to it.”
On August 29 of the same year, the painting was displayed in a prominent position, together with two other works by the artist (belonging to M. Poulhariez), at the annual exhibition of the Academy. The secretary wrote to Joseph Vernet:
“We have […] exhibited a battle painting by M. Verdussen, which he painted with all the care possible in order to present it to our Academy. In our view it is the best piece that has come from his hand.”
To which Vernet responded:
“I do not doubt that M. Verdussen put forth his utmost efforts when it came to a painting destined to remain permanently before your eyes and those of the knowledgeable public. I know him to be very capable of producing very beautiful things, and I am delighted that he is among us.”
The drawing presented here is, in style and technique, close to the sheet Choc de cavalerie (c. 1760–1761) in the collection of the Musée Grobet-Labadié, Marseille (black chalk, H. 26 × L. 40 cm / 10.23 × 15.74 inches). This allows, with a high degree of certainty, for its dating to the artist’s Marseille period. Like the museum example, it demonstrates a confident use of black chalk, a dynamic composition animated by the diagonal movement of cavalry, and a contrast between a dense, detailed foreground and a lighter, atmospheric background. This drawing is a rare example of the artist’s mature work, in which the battle scene appears both as a historical document and as a work of art in its own right.
Quoted from Marseille au XVIIIᵉ siècle. Les années de l’Académie de peinture et de sculpture, 1753–1793, Musées de Marseille, Somogy Éditions d’Art.