Kozakken op een landweg bij Bergen in Noord-Holland, 1813

About this artwork

depth 5.6 cm

Art Historical Context

Painted between 1813 and 1815, Pieter Gerardus van Os’s small oil-on-panel captures a striking moment from the Napoleonic Wars. The scene shows Cossack horsemen riding along a quiet country road near the village of Bergen in North Holland. Van Os, a Dutch artist known for his precise landscapes and animal studies, places these exotic foreign troops within a familiar Dutch setting of flat fields, modest farm buildings, and an expansive sky. The timing is significant: after Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign, Cossack units advanced westward with the allied forces, reaching the Netherlands i...