Jacques COURTOIS (1621-1676)- Battle scene between Christians and Turks

Jacques Courtois or Giacomo Cortese was born on February 12, 1621 in Saint-Hippolyte, county of Burgundy and died on November 14, 1676 in Rome. He is a painter and engraver of battle scenes. He is also called the Bourguignon of battles.
In our composition, the painter accurately depicts the chaos and ferocity of the battlefield between Christians and Turks. The artist expresses through his attention to detail and his removed touch rich in matter, the shock of the riders, the musculature of the horses, as well as the agony of the wounded.
Today the works of Jacques Courtois are in the greatest museums of the world: in Louvres (Paris), in the Uffizi Gallery and in the Pitti Palace (Florence), in the Prado Museum (Madrid), in the Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg) etc. Gian Lorenzi Bernini made this comment: «Among the painters of that time in Europe, no one has equalled Courtois in the graphic expression of the horror of the battle» (in Salvagnini, F.A., I pittori borgognoni, Cortese, Rome, 1937, p. 185).