Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Scene of War: population fleeing before enemy, by Sebastian Vrancx (1573-1647)



3 comments:

  1. Nice find, Getty Images have mislabled this one. Vrancx painting does not show refugees but rather the wives, children and other camp followers who accompanied most military units at the time. The women mostly wear skirts & gowns that ware way to short for "polite" society and many also wear headwear which marks them as women of the camp. Notice that they are led by an invanlided soldier on horseback with tattered pennat. He could be intended to represent the Hürenweibel who was charged with keeping order among the camp followers.

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  2. Great painting...I've got this on my wargaming room wall.

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