Friedrich Brentel I

Friedrich Brentel was born in Lauingen in the southern parts of today's Germany. He was an apprentice to his father Georg Brentel who mostly painted heraldic miniatures. Friedrich's earliest known signed works is dated 1596 (currently located in Karlsruhe), where the only 16-year-old artist showed skill in both composition and painting technique. In the early 1600s Brentel began with etchings and he received several assignments from the German-imperial families which made him both famous and a sought-after artist. When the 30-year war broke out, from which the current cataloguenumber has it´s motif, it changed the artist's production.
Brentel now targeted the miniature genre where he was excellent. His miniature portraits was appreciated among noble families and his clients was now also expanded from the German families to the visiting conquerors who wanted to have their conquests and campaigns immortalized.
Brentels vivid colour in his paintings and drawing, despite the small size of his work, was vibrant. The current battlescene was painted during the latter 1640s. On the miniature we can see King Gustaf II Adolf on his horse Streiff in middle of the battlefield. He is surrounded by fighting men and wounded enemy. Despite the small size Brentel has masterly captured the heat of battle and the surrounding German landscape.