MEULENER, Pieter

(b. 1602 Antwerpen, d. 1654 Moisset)

Flemish painter, son of Jan Molenaer (who is not to be confused with the homonymous Dutch genre painter). He was the pupil of his father and Sebastian Vrancx. He joined the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1631

His early works are influenced by Vrancx, although his colouring stands closer to Pieter Snayers, also a former pupil of Vrancx. After 1645 his colouring became clearer, as he fell under the influence of Dutch battle scene painters, such as Pieter de Neyn (1597-1639), Jan Jacobsz. van der Stoffe and Abraham van der Hoeff (1613-1649), but especially of Palamedes Palamedesz., in so far that their works can be confused.

A Cavalry Battle

This painting belongs to the unspecified battle scenes. Curiously, most of the battle scenes have no references to time or place. The painters visualised current events in a general way. As their clients, from nobility and the higher middle classes, belonged to the cavalry (which made out a quarter of the army) they mostly painted cavalry battles, much less engagements between cavalry and infantry.

The painting is signed and dated bottom right “P.MEVLENER. 1650”.

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