3-039-680 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Soldiers of Brabant Entering Ravenstein; Chroniques (Book Three), about 1480-1483. Additional Info:In the miniature accompanying the report of a 1380s war between the Flemish duchies of Brabant and Gelders in Jean Froissart's Chronicle, the soldiers of Brabant quietly advance to attack the city of Ravenstein. As troops pass stealthily through a dramatic nocturnal landscape, the sun's last rays create a range of effects, illuminating billowing clouds, metallic armor, and a river whose glassy waters reflect the arches of a bridge. With the vista defined by a rocky hillside in the foreground, forbidding city walls in the middle ground, and a meandering river extending into the distance, this is one of the most developed spatial perspectives in the manuscript. The artist's interest in naturalistic effects, however, also served a dramatic purpose. The falling darkness and stillness of the scene heighten the tension of the Brabant soldiers' imminent attack.