A cavalry skirmish

Trained in the studio of Simon Vouet, the majority of Charles Poërson’s surviving oeuvre correspond to a number of tapestry series illustrating Biblical and classical subjects. The present battle scene relates closely to a picture now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel, which was probably a small, painted design for a tapestry of a Calvary Engagement (Lyon, Musée des Tissus). While the Kassel picture has been identified as likely depicting the defeat of Marc Antony’s forces by Octavian at the Battle of Actium, this does not appear to be the case with the present picture. The fashion for battle pictures of this type was common during the mid-seventeenth century and, in the absence of an identifiable tapestry after the picture, it can be suggested that the work was made as an independent painting, depicting a classicised, though probably not specific, cavalry battle. The colouring of the figures, particularly the closely engaged warriors at the left of the composition, remains close to that of Vouet, though Poërson’s concentration on sharp lighting and deep shadow, especially in the bodies lying at the very edge of the canvas mark something of a departure from his master’s style. The posthumous inventory drawn up the 5 July 1667 of the painter’s effects demonstrates that Poërson evidently profited by scenes of this type and excelled in their production.
The attribution was confirmed on the basis of a photograph in 2000 by Clémentine Gustin-Gomez.