#militiamen

[postcard-from-the-past]

Militiamen in Quảng Yên, Vietnam

French vintage postcard

[daguerreotyping]

Ambrotype of a cute militiaman next door whose hat is as wild as his hair, 1860

[dutch-and-flemish-painters]

Frans Badens  - Civic Guardsmen from a company of the Crossbow Civic Guard - 

Oil on canvas, height: 186 cm (73.2 in) Edit this at Wikidata; width: 362 cm (11.8 ft) 

Amsterdam Museum, the Netherlands

Frans Badens (Antwerp, 1571 – Amsterdam, before 17 November 1618) was a Flemish-born painter who was active in Amsterdam where he was known for his mythological and religious scenes and portraits. In his lifetime he was regarded as one of the most important painters who had moved to Amsterdam and was admired for his realistic treatment of the skin.

Karel van Mander lauded Badens as an accomplished painter of history and portraits, and reported that he excelled in painting conversation pieces. He was also known for his tronies (portraits), paintings of horses and large history paintings. Van Mander reported that Badens painted in the Italian style. His body of work is not firmly established and some works attributed to Pieter Isaacsz have been tentatively reattributed to Badens. This includes a Venus and Cupid auctioned at Sotheby's on 29 October 2009, London, lot 14.

To Badens has been attributed a Civic Guardsmen from a company of the Crossbow Civic Guard (1603 - 1618, Amsterdam Museum). The painting falls in the genre of the schutterstukken and represents one of the schutterijen (civic guards) of Amsterdam. In this composition Badens created a sense of space by providing a through view. A striking figure is the drummer in the centre. Occupying a low rank, he would likely not have had enough money to pay for his portrait. Probably the drummer and the many lances and hats in the background were included to create the impression that the whole guard was present in the painting.

Frans Badens is known to have collaborated on a Ganymedes (now lost) with the landscape painter Govert Janszn called Mijnheer who enjoyed a considerable reputation at the time.

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

[chubachus]

Portrait of a group of Union soldiers of the 7th Regiment New York State Militia posing in front of a tent in Camp Cameron in Washington, D.C., 1861. The African American boy was probably a camp servant. Attributed to Mathew Brady.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration.

[drftraining]

A quick history lesson for all the #molonlabers #threepercenters and other cellar dwellers and COD Operators out there that may not know: On April 19, 1775, British forces were returning to Boston from the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the opening engagements of the war. On their march, they were continually shot at by colonial militiamen. Samuel Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Earl Percy, sent to assist the retreat. Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British Grenadiers of the 47th Regiment of Foot from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier. He then drew his dueling pistols and killed a grenadier and mortally wounded a second. By the time Whittemore had fired his third shot, a British detachment reached his position; Whittemore drew his sword and attacked. He was shot in the face, bayoneted thirteen times, and left for dead in a pool of blood. He was found by colonial forces, alive, trying to load his musket to fight again. He was taken to Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, who perceived no hope for his survival. However, Whittemore lived another 18 years until dying of natural causes at the age of 98. The Samuel Whittemore Monument is located in Arlington, MA. #minutemen #militiamen #massachusettsmilitia #battleoflexingtonandconcord #downrangefirearmstraining #igmilitia

[dutch-and-flemish-painters]

Nicolaes van Eyck - Grand Parade of the Antwerp Civil Guard on the Meir - 1673

oil on canvas, Height: 184.5 cm (72.6 in); Width: 360 cm (11.8 ft)

The Vleeshuis (Butcher's Hall, or literally Meat House) in Antwerp, Belgium

Nicolaas van Eyck or Nicolaes van Eyck (1617 in Antwerp – 1679 in Antwerp), was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp in the middle of the 17th century. He is known for his equestrian and battle scenes, landscapes and portraits. He also painted a few civil processions, including parades of the Antwerp civil militia.

Nicolaas van Eyck is principally known for his landscapes with soldiers and horsemen engaged in battle or resting. Records show that he also painted portraits, religious compositions and vanitas still lifes. He painted a number of compositions representing scenes of urban warfare and rebellion. Van Eyck further painted some genre scenes of village feasts and dancing farmers.

Van Eyck also painted civil processions, including a composition representing the Grand parade of the civil guard of Antwerp on the Meir (1672, Vleeshuis, Antwerp). A Scene from a parade of the civil guard (Hospitalfield Arts) appears to be a fragment of a painting depicting a parade of the civil guard in Antwerp. The scene shows a demonstration of fire arms. A row of arquebusiers are discharging their rifles in the direction of a row of men standing in front of them. Clearly they were not using real bullets but only powder. Such displays appear to have been common in civil parades of that time as can be seen in the Ommeganck in Brussels on 31 May 1615 by Denis van Alsloot, which includes a similar scene.

A few of Van Eyck's compositions depict scenes of the civil unrest and war that took place in Flanders during the 16th century. An example is the set of two paintings on the Taking of Mechelen by the Geuzen under the command of Olivier van Tympele and John Norreys on 9 April 1580 (Stedelijke Musea Mechelen). The paintings depict the taking of Mechelen by English troops in the name of the Protestant Northern Netherlands, a military action which developed into atrocities on the civil population known as the English Fury of 1580. The hostilities are shown in the paintings from respectively the north and south of the city square. The city square is filled with militiamen and enemy soldiers and artillery pieces and guns firing. The artist emphasized the exploits of individual local inhabitants against the foreign, English enemy. For example, various individuals are shown trying to save relics of the patron Saint Rumbold from the hands of the English heretics. The Carmelite monk Petrus de Wolf who had joined the armed resistance on the city square is shown in the first canvas participating in the action. In the second Petrus de Wolf can be seen after he has fallen in the hands of the enemy and is about to be killed by the English colonel Norreys.

Van Eyck was one of the many Antwerp painters who collaborated on a Cabinet of Pictures (Royal Collection, England) by Jacob de Formentrou. This painting dated between 1654 and 1659 represents an art gallery with works of important Antwerp masters and can be regarded as a carefully crafted advertisement of the current talent and past legacy of the Antwerp school of painting. The inclusion in the art gallery's collection of a work by van Eyck depicting an equestrian battle (the second-highest canvas on the right side of the right-hand wall) shows that he was at the time considered to be a leading painter in Antwerp.

[chubachus]

View of a crowd watching militiamen preparing cannons to fire a salute in honor of the arrival of Japan’s first diplomatic mission to the United States in New York City, June 16, 1860. By Edward Anthony.

Source: Library of Congress.