The battle painter, Jacques Courtois (1621-1676), called Borgognone
and Le Bourguignon, though born in France, was so completely under the
spell of the art of Italy, the country where he spent almost his entire
life, that he can scarcely be reckoned as belonging to the French
school. His furious cavalry _mêlées_, though entirely imaginative (as
such confused encounters of horsemen piercing each other’s ranks have
never taken place in actual warfare), are painted, like the _Cavalry
Fight_ (No. 151), with a touch as swift as it is sure and expressive,
and full of exuberant vitality.
Joseph Parrocel (1678-1704), who, during a prolonged visit to Rome had
benefited by Borgognone’s teaching, could not, after his return to
France in 1675, escape the current of thought which dominated his time,
and introduced the stage-heroic note into his master’s sham realism.
The glorification of his king is the purpose of such pictures as _The
Passage of the Rhine by Louis XIV._ (No. 678). The chief interest is
centred in the richly apparelled group on their prancing steeds in the
foreground.