Battle of Vimpfen May 6, 1622

Painting of the Battle of Vimpfen (or Wimpfen)

I saw this painting on a recent post from the Wars of Louis XIV blog. Every now and then that blog has a post about something from a time prior to the Sun King's reign. This painting was particularly nice as it illustrated more than just the formations of troops. Notice the wagons and tents in the center and center-right part of the painting.

It turns out that the wagons and tents were an important focus in the battle as we will see in the following etching which shows the tremendous explosions that resulted from the accidental detonation of the Protestant magazine. 

The Battle of Wimpfen. Etching from Merian's Theatrum Europaeum,
vol. 1, 3rd ed. 1662, after p. 692

Battle of Wimpfen

The Battle of Wimpfen was part of the Bohemian Revolt in the early portion of the Thirty Years' War.  It occurred on May 6, 1622 near Wimpfen. The forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic League under Marshal Tilly and Gonzalo de Córdoba defeated the Protestant forces of General Ernst von Mansfeld and GeorgFriedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach.

 Friedrich

After the fall of the Bohemian capital of Prague following the Battle of White Mountain on November 8, 1620, Georg Friedrich decided to continue the fight. and oppose Tilly and Cordoba at Wimpfen.

On 27 April, George Frederick declared war on the Habsburgs and combined his forces with those of Mansfeld, so as to fight the Catholic League together. By early May, the soldiers of Christian of Brunswick had arrived to the north of the Neckar River and were prepared to assist the Protestant forces. This came as good news to the combined forces of Mansfeld and Georg Friedrich, who hoped to combine their armies before risking a major battle.

To gain time and to attempt to split the combined Catholic army, Mansfeld crossed the Neckar near Heidelberg while Georg Friedrich marched east up the river to cross at Wimpfen. The plan failed as the troops under Tilly and Córdoba did not split and instead pursued the 14,000 strong army of Georg Friedrich and cut him off near Wimpfen. Outnumbered, Georg Friedrich deployed his troops into a defensive position on a low hill outside of the village. Here the Protestants made an effective stand, rallied by a strong artillery position until a random Spanish countershot exploded the Protestant magazine, costing the Badeners their position. The Catholics assaulted the hill and shattered the Protestant army. Georg Friedrich then fled to Stuttgart with the few remaining men under his command.

Who is the artist of the first painting?

The Wars of Louis XIV blog post identifies the painter as Simon de Vos possibly based on this link or maybe this one. However the web site for the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg identifies the artist as Sebastiaen Vrancx. The Wikipedia article on Sebastiaen Vrancx also identifies him as the artist. It further observes that he was well known for painting battle scenes which would support him as a likely artist. On the other hand, the neither the English nor the Netherlander Wikipedia articles on Simon de Vos mention the Battle of Vimpfen (or Wimpfen) at all.

Also of note is that the entry for the Hermitage contains the following “Acquisition date: Entered the Hermitage in 1933; transferred from the Antikvariat All-Union Association.” The two links that identify Simon de Vos as the artist both list "Source: All-Union Society 'Antiquariat', 1933." Since the Hermitage acquired the painting from the All-Union Society I'm going to assume that the attribution was later changed to Sebastiaen Vrancx and since that is the attribution used by the current holder of the painting, I conclude that Vrancx, not de Vos, is the actual artist.

Château Les Bonshommes

In 1583, at the request of Catherine de Medici, a country house inspired by the ancient villas of Italy was built under the direction of the architect Étienne Dupérac. The Queen Mother expanded the house east of the enclosure of Les Bonshommes (the snowmen). Later this house took the name of "L'ermitage" or "Beauregard". In the 17th century, the houses was acquired by Pierre Jeanin. Then in 1630 it was acquired by the Marechal Bassompierre. In 1651 the Convent of the Order of the Visitation was founded by Queen Henriette of England and this was where she was buried. The house was destroyed during the French Revolution.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_de_Chaillot

I found the first reference to this house on pp 332-333 of Loyal in Love by Jean Plaidy. The exiled Queen Henriette of England describes it as a fine country house on the hill at Chaillot that was given to Maréchal Bassompierre by Louis XIII. After Bassompierre’s death it stood empty. Her sister-in-law, Queen Anne tells her that “I have asked the price. It is six thousand pistoles.” It was purchased by Queen Anne so that Queen Henriette could found a convent there. We also learn that, “The windows overlooked the Seine and the Avenue of the Cours La Reine.” 

I don't know when the house took the name of "L'ermitage" or "Beauregard" but on the 1620 3D view of Paris below “46. Les Bonshomes” seems to correspond to the house’s location. (Two steeples are visible to the left and right of the house location). Also my 1761 map of the environs of Paris shows a convent in what seems to be (more or less) the same location. (The convent is between the churches of Chaillot and Passy to its east and west.) The convent is labeled “B Homes” which given the conventions and erratic spellings of the period is probably a variant spelling of Bonshomes.

39    Les Fuilans or Le Saint Fuilans

40    Les Capucins

45    La Riviere de Seine

46    Les Bonshomes

Presumably in the 3D drawing above the steeples left and right of #46 are the churches of Passy (left or west) and Chaillot (right or east). I haven’t found a solid reference to the house’s actual name so for now I have called it Château Les Bonshommes after the name on the map above.

 

The house is located on the Right Bank (north side) of the river Seine about a mile east of the eastern edge of the Tuileries Gardens between the churches of Passy and Chaillot. (detail from the 1761 Environs de Paris by Vaugondy). 

Although the image is blurry the house appears on the right labeled “Labons.” This is a detail from from a 1565 Paris in Franckreich Campaigne plan from the Bibiothèque nationale de France.

Note that this house should not be confused with the Château de Chaillot located in Vierzon, France.

Below are two more images of Les Bonshommes from details of two other period maps.

The above is a detail from the 1553 Plan of Paris by Truschet and Hoyau. The name “lesbonsbommes” is clearly seen. Given the variety of spellings in the 16^th century this is quite close to the current spelling of Les Bonshommes.

For use as source material for an historical campaign I've included a link to a PDF version of this post.