Charles-Philogène Tschaggeny, An Episode on the Field of Battle

A young soldier looks up in desperation at the horse bolting towards him, its hoof outstretched to trample him down. The beast throws back its head, frothing at the mouth as it whinnies in terror. The soldier’s own horse rolls to the ground; splayed over the rocks beside it, an armoured foot soldier lies dead. Battle rages in the background. The costumes of both men suggest that this battle scene is set during the civil war that raged in England between 1642 and 1651.

Tschaggeny worked in England probably in or about 1840–50, when it is thought he painted this picture. He was well regarded in his native Belgium, particularly for the paintings of horses that were his speciality, although he did produce genre and marine paintings as well. In 1842, King William II of the Netherlands commissioned him to paint a portrait of the horse he had ridden during the Battle of Waterloo.