“Pris de Marrah, 1098” is an oil painting by Henri Decaisne (1799-1852), a Belgian painter known for his portraits and historic pieces. This work depicts an episode of the First Crusade. It appears that the artist’s preparatory sketch of this painting has been recently sold on eBay, so I decided to show some of those images as well.
The question of course, is : “Why is there a Knight Templar present at Marra, some 20 years before the founding of the Order?” It would not have been unlikely for a Crusader to have a red cross on his tunic. However, the fact that the tunic is white makes me believe that this is an anachronistic detail. The whole thing becomes too funny if you look at the cover of “Jacques de Molay : Le crépuscule des templiers” by Alain Demurger (pictured below).
Other than that, a great battle scene. You can easily imagine what happens in the next second: who gets slain or injured by whom. The background gives an impression of the city’s massive fortifications, which were probably not that impressive in reality.
1 comment… add one
I think they call it an ” Artists License ” by that putting something in that should not be there, in other words he can do what he likes with his painting, or he just did not know the history.
Well detected.
Archie.