Lot number 54 - Auction 165
REITERSCHLACHT (KAMPF BEI DEN THERMOPYLEN)

GERRIT CLAESZ. BLEKER 1592 Haarlem - 1656 ? CAVALRY BATTLE (THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE) Oil on oak panel. 74 x 106 cm (F. 94 x 124 cm). Monogrammed and dated 'GCB' (ligated) 'leker 1648'. Verso: Old wax seal (unidentified). Part. min. old rest., part. min. old retouching, min. rest. horizontal crack due to tension. Frame. A nearly comparable composition is in the Szépmuvészeti Museum, Budapest. Accompanied by a letter from Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schulz dated 3 March 1988, in which the present painting by Bleker is dated by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schulz to around 1635. Provenance: Lempertz Auction House, Cologne, Auction 621, 25-27 June 1987. Previously: Kunsthandel Kunz, Wiesbaden.