This early 18th-century oil painting by Italian artist Ilario Spolverini (1657-1734) depicts a vivid scene of military activity. A mounted company of cavalry gathers in the foreground, while the distant plains erupt in smoke and movement. It’s set, most plausibly, in Northern Italy, near Parma or Piacenza, where the Farnese dukes commanded military operations.
Towards the centre of the composition, an officer on a white charger commands attention - turning toward his men as though delivering final orders. His posture conveys authority, echoed in the poised readiness of the surrounding cavalry. The distant haze and winding trails evoke the Apennine foothills, while small fortified structures punctuate the landscape.
The painting belongs stylistically to Spolverini’s mature period (c.1710-1730), when he worked under the patronage of Duke Francesco Farnese. During this time, he was commissioned to create a series of grand canvases celebrating Farnese military campaigns and alliances, many of which took place across Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. Although not a literal record of a single encounter, the present work may allude to the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), during which the Farnese territory became a corridor for rival European armies. Spolverini frequently transformed these conflicts into visual allegories of courage, loyalty, and command.
Trained under Francesco Monti (Il Brescianino) and influenced by Jacques Courtois (Il Borgognone), Spolverini developed a language of movement that fused French martial energy with Italian lyricism. His horses, rendered with fluent, sweeping strokes, surge forward in rhythmic arcs, while flashes of red and ochre animate the ranks of soldiers. The smoky light and ochre palette lend the scene a temporal softness, capturing the fleeting moment before battle - rather than the violence itself.
The commander on the white horse, a recurrent motif in Spolverini’s oeuvre, symbolises both tactical mastery and divine sanction. While the distant columns of smoke rising over the valley function as both narrative and metaphor - reminders of mortality and the ephemerality of glory.
This painting exemplifies Spolverini’s ability to translate political grandeur into painterly rhythm - a visual symphony of hierarchy, courage, and command. In the smoky landscape of northern Italy, we glimpse not only the pageantry of battle but the enduring human drama that defined Baroque heroic ideals.
Held in an 18th-century carved and gilded frame with a broad, coved profile, enriched by egg-and-dart ornament along the sight edge and bold, rounded beads across the outer edge, which is possibly original.
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Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 35½” x 24½” / 89cm x 62cm
Year of creation: c. 1720
Provenance: Private collection, Italy.
Condition: Cleaned. Craquelure in areas. The paint layer is stable. Later stretcher. Frame with various marks and showing its age.
Artist’s auction maximum: £48,496 for ‘Reiterschlachten’ (2), Oil on canvas, Stuttgart, Germany, 26 September 2003.
Our reference: BRV2207
