Landscape with Tournament and Hunters
Jan van Scorel·1519–20
Historical Context
Jan van Scorel's Landscape with Tournament and Hunters from 1519-20 combines the aristocratic subjects of tournament and hunt within an elaborate landscape setting. This early work predates van Scorel's transformative Italian journey but already demonstrates his interest in complex, panoramic compositions. The subject of the tournament reflected the chivalric culture that still dominated the aristocratic imagination of the early 16th-century Netherlands.
Technical Analysis
Van Scorel's oil-on-panel technique renders the complex, multi-episode scene with detailed attention to horses, riders, and landscape elements. The panoramic composition with its high viewpoint and detailed narrative episodes follows Netherlandish conventions while hinting at the spatial ambitions he would develop.
Provenance
R. Sabelsky, Saint Petersburg [according to the catalogue of the Roerich sale in 1930 cited below]. Roerich Museum, New York, by 1927 [according to the catalogue of the Roerich sale]; sold, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, Mar. 27–28, 1930, no. 128. George F. Harding, Jr. (d. 1939), Chicago; bequeathed to the George F. Harding Museum, Chicago; ownership transferred to the Art Institute, 1982; accessioned, 1990.
