1600–1700

Depicted is a battle against the Turks in front of a fortress. We recognise the Turks by their turbans and the shaved heads with pony-tails.

Depictions of clashes with Turks were very popular, both in Italy and in Central Europe, when the Ottoman empire threatened Vienna, and after the victory which saved the city in 1683 when the aggressor was slowly retiring.

Like many battle scenes this one too was once attributed to Jacques Courtois, called il Borgognone; his name in the French version was written at the bottom left. But the style and typology indicate the hand of Antonio Calza; we also recognise him in the upper half of the picture, in the handling of the background.

Cat. No. 38 treats the same subject matter but it is larger and the composition is different.

Provenance: Venice; Graz; Strahl collection, Stara Loka, until 1930; purchased by the Narodna galerija, Ljubljana, 1930, old Inv. No. 481 (as 18C work). On the bottom slat of the stretcher are two old labels, one with the inscription: I. R. STRADA F. / Da VERONA P. / per Venezia; the other with the number 86.
Exhibitions: 1930, Ljubljana, no catalogue; 1993, Ljubljana, No. 32.
Lit.: Polec 1930b, p. 168, Cat. No. 361, Fig. on p. 163 (probably Courtois Le Borguignon, acquired in Graz, signature added by Künl); Zeri and Rozman 1993, pp. 116, 150–151, Cat. No. 32, Fig. 34.
At the bottom on the left Strahl’s restorer, Pavel Künl (1817–1871), added: Purginion pinxit.