Jacques Bellange

The setting and people in this scene can be loosely associated with wartime or a battlefield camp, as evidenced by the shield and drum in the foreground and the

fantastically dressed soldier at right. But the exact nature of this camp, the relationship of the figures, and even the gender of the central figure remain unresolved to this day. Jacques Bellange, a near contemporary of Callot’s at the ducal court in Lorraine, probably created this image as a “capriccio” (a fantasy with evocative references but no clear narrative), with allusions to ancient as well as biblical stories. Cultured viewers would have enjoyed decoding Bellange’s oblique references. Though we see some relationship between Bellange’s swaying, mannered figures and those of Callot, Bellange worked on a monumental scale that did not seem to interest Callot.