The battles of Houtkerque (Dunkerque) and Marchiennes (?).

2 drawings, pen and brown ink, watercolour, ca. 55 x 73 cm, laid paper with watermark ("Dingel" and "Hont", not in Heawood/Churchill), unsigned (central fold split, sm. (pin)holes, marg. stain).

Two interesting battle scenes, presumably from the Campaigns of 1793, more particularly from the Flanders Campaign when the allied troops of Austria (incl. the Southern Netherlands), Prussia, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Hanover and Hesse-Kassel mobilised military forces against revolutionary France. Incl.:
1. "La bataille dehoudegurke" shows most likely the battle of Houtkerque (i.e. "Oude Kercke" and "Houtkercke" on Ferraris) on 6 September 1793 when the French took over the village and the allied forces, i.e. Austrians, Dutch and English troops, had to retreat. Houtkerque was described as the "scene of many sanguinary engagements between the French and the Imperialists in 1793". - 2. "La bataille de Marcinné". Presumably the so-called "attack and surprise of Marchiennes" on 29 and 30 October 1793 executed by General Kray and Otto under command of York. It happened shortly after the death of Marie-Antoinette on 16 October, and was therefore seen as a revenge by the Austrians. Both scenes are depicted very vividly, although the artist does not seem to adhere to topographical reality. Perhaps he was an eyewitness who drew the scene after the fact, given that both churches are drawn in a fairly uniform, even Bavarian, manner, which may give us a clue as to his origins.
Ref. 1. Militaire Spectator II/17 (1834), pp. 220-221. - A Gazetteer of the World: Vol. 4 (Royal Geographical Society, 1856), p. 145. - 2. Philippart, J. - The royal military calendar, containing the services of every general officer in the British army (London, A.J. Valpy, 1815), vol. I, p. 5. - Karl von Blazekovié, Chronik des k.k. 31. Linien-Infanterie-Regimentes (Wien, k.k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1867), pp. 188-189. - Dupuis, V.C.E. - La campagne de 1793 à l'armée du Nord et des Ardennes (Paris, R. Chapelot et Cie, 1906-1909), p‎p. 106, 108.