Between historical fact and artistic fiction: the topographical representation of contemporary battles and festivities by the Brussels court painters Peter Snayers and Elisabeth Seldron.

This project consists of three interlocking components. The first one is the revision of my dissertation, entitled Between remembrance and glorification. A contextual study of Peter Snayers (1592-1667) topographical battle iconography for the Habsburg elite, for book publication in English in the peer-reviewed series Pictura Nova (Brepols Publishers). In the second part of the project Snayers paintings of the shooting of the jay by the Archduke Leopold-William on 23rd April 1651 (Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and Madrid, BBVA-collection) will be examined. In order to determine the factual value of these paintings, they will be compared with archived reports of the festivity and with the pictorial tradition, especially David II Teniers (1610-1690) representation of the same event and Anton Sallaerts (1580-1650) paintings of the Infante Isabellas shooting of the jay in 1615. The third part of the project is devoted to the study of an unknown series of battle paintings by the Brussels court artist Elisabeth Seldron (c. 1680-1761). The depicted events will be contextualized, and on a stylistic level the art works will be studied in connection with Teniers military painting, and Philippe de Hondts (1683-1741) tapestry designs. Attention will also be paid to the links between Seldrons iconography and the French military model developed by Snayers pupil Adam Frans Van der Meulen (1632-1690).

Keywords:Art History, Early modern period, Brussels, Painting, Battle iconography, Urban history, Elisabeth Seldron, Peter Snayers

Disciplines:Art studies and sciences