The Battlefield
1652
Medium
Etching on paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 16.6 × 19.8 cm (6 9/16 × 7 13/16 in.); Sheet: 17.1 × 20.4 cm (6 3/4 × 8 1/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
23686
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Karel Dujardin, like Jan Both, painted Italian views and made over 50 prints after he returned from Italy in about 1652. In this print, the plundering troops inspect the dead or dying on an unspecified battlefield. It was extolled by the 20th-century English etcher Walter Sickert as "perhaps the etching of the world ... for clarity, concision and vivacity."
About the Artist
Karel Dujardin · 1626–1678
Karel Dujardin, born in Amsterdam on September 27, 1626, was the son of the little-known painter Guilliam du Gardin. His early training came under the guidance of Nicolaes Berchem, a master whose influence is evident in Dujardin's animal and landscape depictions, while he was also inspired by the works of Paulus Potter. As a young artist, Dujardin traveled to Italy, where he immersed himself in th...