Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg

Count Gustav Philip Creutz, Swedish Minister in Paris, by whom lent to the Paris Salon in 1767, and thus presumably acquired from the artist earlier in the same year;
Sold or given to Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746-1794) when he visited Count Creutz in Paris in 1780, or following Creutz' return to Sweden in 1783:
Not in Sparre's 1794 inventory, and presumably located at Kulla Gunnarstorp.

Paris, Salon, 1767, part of no. 124, 'Un Combat sur Terre';
Kristianstad, 1977, no. 24.

Explication des Peintures, Sculptures et Gravures... (Catalogue of the Salon), Paris 1767, p. 26, under no. 124 (reprinted New York & London 1977);
Granberg, 1885-6, no. 34;
Göthe, 1895, pp. 20-21, no. 39;
J. Seznec & J. Adhémar, Diderot Salons, vol. III, 1767, Oxford 1963, pp. 35-6;
Hasselgren, 1974, pp. 124, 127, 132, reproduced p. 180;
P. Grate, French Paintings II Eighteenth Century (Catalogue of the National Museum Stockholm), Stockholm 1994, pp. 196-7. no. 177, reproduced fig. ref. 1;
P. Sanchez, Dictionnaire des Artistes exposant dans les Salons à Paris et en Provence, Dijon 2004, vol. II, p. 1109. 

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas is unlined. There is one patched and retouched damage upper right. The tacking edge has degraded and there is a loss of tension leading to a pronounced upper stretcher mark. The paint layer is raised but stable. There is slight shrinkage to the paint layer in the darker passage leading to a fine filigree of pale craquelure. In the foreground abrasion to the armour of the seated rider, the figures of the fallen soldiers and the shadows is discernible. The varnish is discoloured and its removal would improve the tonality. It is in an original untouched condition."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This was one of six works by De Loutherbourg of the same dimensions lent by Count Creutz to the Paris Salon in 1767 ('Combat sur Terre').  Creutz sold or gave this picture and the following lot to Sparre, either when that latter visited him in Paris in 1780, as Gröthe suggests, or following his return to Sweden in 1783.  It was upon his return, and certainly before 1792, that Creutz sold the remaining four pictures to the Swedish King Gustav III, and these are today in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.¹  Since they too are all dated 1767, Creutz must have bought all of them from De Loutherbourg in the same year.

Creutz seems not to have given much thought to the matter, since he split two obvious pairs.  The pendant to the present picture "Un combat sur mer", and the pendant to the following lot are in the National Museum in Stockholm. 

1. See Grate under Literature, pp. 195-9, nos.175-8, all reproduced.