Two Extremely Rare Late 18th-Century Batavian Republic Military Flags
Anonymous maker, the Netherlands, circa 1795
Oil paint and gilding on silk, both painted with identical scenes on recto and verso, maximum dimensions 105 x 110 cm (7th battalion) and 100 x 115 (15th battalion)
The first lettered ‘7de / BATTAILLON / BATAAFSCHE / INFANTERIE’ and ‘VOOR VADERLAND EN VRYHEID’
The second lettered ‘CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCUNT’ and ‘15DE BATTAILLON’
Provenance
Private collection, The Netherlands
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These two recently discovered hand-painted and gilded military flags are extremely rare, possibly unique. They were made for the 7th and 15th battalions of the Batavian Republic, which lasted from 1795 to 1806 and was based on the model of the French Revolutionary Republic.
Comparable French flags from a slightly later period are preserved in the collections of the Musée de l’Armée, Paris and the Hermitage in St Petersburg.1 A flag of the 1st battalion of the newly established Kingdom of the Netherlands of c.1807-1809 is preserved in the collection of the National Army Museum, London.2
SOLD TO THE NATIONAAL MILITAIR MUSEUM (NATIONAL MILITARY MUSEUM), SOESTERBERG
1. See Mark van Hattem, Mariska Pool and Mathieu Willemsen (eds), Voor Napoleon. Hollanders in oorlogstijd 1792-1815, Bussum/Delft 2015, p. 6 and p. 72, both repr.
2. Van Hattem et al., p. 41, repr.
