Portrait Of A Soldier 1660

Oil on canvas Dim with frame 92/69 cm Dim without frame 62/85 cm It is quite possible that this portrait was created by an itinerant painter, a specialist in military ceremonial portraits, as there were many in the 17th century, often trained in Flanders or the United Provinces, and working on commission for garrison officers. The painting could be attributed to a Germanic or Flemish painter active in the Rhine area around 1660, belonging to the school of the Holy Roman Empire, with Flemish influences. Imposing and rare portrait of a senior officer in armor, identified by a period inscription as Bernard Schuilque, major at Old Breisach, quartermaster general, commander and major of the Württemberg cavalry regiment in the service of the king. This striking painting embodies all the solemnity and military pride of the 17th century. The man, dressed in superb armor with wide gorgets and golden cuffs, poses before a sky animated by clouds, holding the pommel of his sword in one gloved hand, with a helmet trimmed with white feathers at his side. The dignified expression, the assertive gaze, everything in this work celebrates the prestige of a warrior in the service of the great powers of his time. This portrait dated 1660 represents Bernard Schuilque, identified as quartermaster general, commander and major of the Württemberg cavalry regiment in the service of the king, stationed at Old Breisach, on the right bank of the Rhine. We are then at the end of the decade following the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), a major European conflict that redrew the political and territorial balances of the continent. France, having emerged strengthened from this conflict, increased its influence in the border regions of the Holy Roman Empire, particularly along the Rhine, in Alsace, and as far as Breisach, which it had controlled militarily since 1638. In this context, the royal armies incorporated many foreign officers, notably Flemish, Walloon, Swiss, German, and Dutch, often recruited from foreign regiments in the service of the king. Bernard Schuilque, whose name has a Dutch or Flemish sound, seems to belong to this transnational military elite, in the service of the French monarchy. Here, he commanded a Württemberg cavalry regiment, probably a German unit raised by alliance or contract, common in 17th-century armies. Alt-Breisach, a strategic stronghold on the Rhine, was then an essential military barrier in the French policy of defense and penetration into Germanic territories. The officers assigned there—like Schuilque—held key positions in both administration and military defense. The portrait thus bears witness to this officer's individual prestige, his integration into the French military apparatus, and the fluid geopolitics of the post-Thirty Years' War period, where loyalties, services, and identities often played out across national borders.