Louis II de Bourbon (1621-1686), duc d'Enghien, reçoit la reddition de Dunkerque en octobre 1646 (between 1646 and 1647) by Jean Tassel (Painter)Musée de l'Armée - Hôtel des Invalides
This canvas, 2.30 metres high by 2.85 wide was painted by Jean Tassel shortly before or after the Duke of Enghien’s ascension to the title of 4th Prince of Condé and Governor of Burgundy after the death of his father in December 1646.
The painting commemorates Dunkirk’s capture from the Spanish in 1646. In the foreground, Louis II of Bourbon, Duke of Enghien, very boyish-looking despite his 25 years, looks straight into the beholder’s eyes.
Wearing an antique-style burgonet and a lion’s skin over his shoulders, the richness of his dress emphasises his importance, the King’s cousin and a prince of the blood. The painter endows him with a well-muscled body, an idealised depiction as, according to the documents that have come down to us, the duke was somewhat puny.
Hovering over him, the goddess Victory sets a laurel wreath on his head, a symbol of his triumph.
At his feet, a pair of cherubim are doing their best to roll two globes across the ground in front of him. The one on the left is a world map, while the other is more difficult to decipher, but may be a map of the heavens with Leo, the sign of the zodiac.
The painting added to the Duke of Enghien’s prestige, a reminder of the goal of the war (evoked by the cannon barrel on the right), which re-established trade in the arts, sciences and navigation, symbolised by the compass, the globes and the musical scores.
Three kneeling female figures are beseeching the duke. The first, wearing antique-style dress and holding out an olive branch, personifies peace.
The second holds a tablet bearing the inscription “facit gemino commercia mundo” (“he does commerce in two worlds”). With her purse on her belt and her ruff, she represents the city of Dunkirk, where shipowning companies were thriving at the time, connecting the old world to the new.
Clothed in black, as if in mourning, the third woman holds out a nautical chart, yet another allegory of sea trade reopened thanks to the duke’s victory.
The Duke of Enghien appears again in the background, recognisable by his pink plume; this time he’s depicted as a warlord on horseback. Equipped with a sword and firearms, he’s wearing a simple robe rather than armour.
A story written and edited by the teams of the Army Museum.
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