JACQUES COURTOIS, CALLED BORGOGNONE | A BATTLE SCENE WITH SOLDIERS ON HORSEBACK, A WALLED CITY RAISED ON A HILL BEYOND

This newly discovered, elaborate battle scene, as yet unpublished, has been identified by Giancarlo Sestieri as the work of the French artist Jacques Courtois. Courtois was an immensely skilled battle scene painter, and his dynamic compositions convincingly portray the ferocious drama and chaos of the battlefield. Sestieri notes that the inclusion of the decapitated figure in the tent, placed so prominently in the foreground at right, suggests the subject may refer to a specific historical event, as yet unidentified. It has been suggested in the past that the subject depicts Christian soldiers battling Muslims during the Crusades, and that the city raised high on the hill beyond is that of Jerusalem. We are grateful to Giancarlo Sestieri for proposing the attribution on the basis of photographs.