FREDERIK VAN VALCKENBORCH (ANTWERP 1566-1623 NUREMBERG)
FREDERIK VAN VALCKENBORCH (ANTWERP 1566-1623 NUREMBERG)
FREDERIK VAN VALCKENBORCH (ANTWERP 1566-1623 NUREMBERG)
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FREDERIK VAN VALCKENBORCH (ANTWERP 1566-1623 NUREMBERG)
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FREDERIK VAN VALCKENBORCH (ANTWERP 1566-1623 NUREMBERG)

The Battle of Issus, or possibly Ipsus

Details
FREDERIK VAN VALCKENBORCH (ANTWERP 1566-1623 NUREMBERG)
The Battle of Issus, or possibly Ipsus
signed and dated 'F . D . FALKENBOR / . 1611 .' (lower right)
oil on canvas
21 1⁄16 x 26 7⁄8 in. (53.5 x 68.2 cm.)
Provenance
Samuel Day of Hinton House (1757-1806), and by descent to his widow, Mary Day (died in 1846), until 1846.
Thomas Jones (1788-1846), who inherited the estate.
Edward Talbot Day Jones (1837-1911), and by descent.
Anonymous sale; Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury, 17 June 2009, lot 315.
with Rafael Valls Gallery, London, from whom acquired in December 2009.
Literature
Probably the picture in the list of the paintings made for Mrs Day after the death of her husband in 1806 (as 'A Battle by Vandermulen').
Inventory of all the Household…including Paintings at Hinton Charterhouse, the Property of the Late Thomas Jones made August 23rd-28th 1848 by English and Sons, Bath (as 'The Battle of Joshua - by F. D. Falkenborg 1611').
D. Alberge, 'Rubens and Neo-Classical Art' in M. Merrony (ed.), Mougins Museum of Classical Art, France, 2011, pp. 296-297, illustrated p. 295, fig. 6.
Exhibited
Mougins, Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, 2011-2023 (inv. no. MMoCA84MA).

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi
Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

Lot Essay


Though this painting has come to be seen as depicting Alexander the Great and his Captains recovering the dying Persian Emperor Darius after the Battle of Issus the iconography of the scene does not support this idea, since Darius, last Achaemenid King of Kings of Persia, did not die in battle. Instead, he was murdered in the back of an ox-cart by two of his own generals, Bessus and Nabarzanes, who had turned against him for his inability to defeat Alexander.

It is possible that the scene depicted is instead the death of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, the Macedonian ruler of large parts of Asia, at the Battle of Ipsus. Antigonus was one of the Diadochos, the rival generals, families, and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for control over his empire after his death in 323 BC. For a while he was the most powerful of these warring leaders, ruling over an area that covered Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia and northern Mesopotamia. However, Cassander, Seleucus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus formed a coalition against him, which resulted in his ultimate defeat and death at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC.

Frederick van Valckenborch came from the Valckenborch dynasty of artists, his father was Marten van Valckenborch, his brother Gillis van Valckenborch and his uncle Lucas van Valckenborch l. Both Martin and Lucas were originally from Leuven, but for political or religious reasons, left the Spanish-occupied southern Netherlands and settled in the more tolerant German imperial city of Frankfurt-am-Main. Frederik would have likely received his training from his father in Antwerp before following the older generation’s example and moving to Frankfurt and later Nuremberg.

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