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what do spanish soldiers in the 1620s look like?

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:14 pm
by footslogger
Mainly armies in Flanders. Is there a book?

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:41 am
by DanielS
Because the army of Flanders relied heavily on local makers for clothing and equipment even the Spanish & italian troops came to resemble "every one else" And of course many regiments were Walloon & German troops & equipped in the area to begin with. The main diffrences would be seen in some clothing styles worn by the troops who came up from Italy along the Spanish tRoad though clothes wore out quickly and in the style of armour used.

There are some books in Spanish and at least one in French such as:
Pablo Martin Gomez "El Ejercito espanol en la Guerra de los 30 Anos" (Almena Ediciones, Madrid 2006 & 2009)
Pierre Picouet "Les Tercios Espagnols 1600-1660" (LRT Editions 2010)

Both however make heavy use of 'modern' artwork though "Les Tercios" also does have large size images of period military art from the collection in the Prado. The cost and limited acess to paintings were museums hold the copyrights to photos of course put a limit on how much use you can make of such works. Cheap it ain't..

Below is a selection of Flemish and Spanish artwork showing Spanish troops pre-war or in the 1620's


Spanish troops at the siege of Ostend by Vrancx (painted in 1610-1615 and showing the style of those years)
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Spanish troops raiding a village (By Snayers from 1617)
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Battle of Nieuport 1600, painted 1610-1620 by Vrancx, Spanish troops with red field signs such as sashes, Dutch with orange sashes
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Spanish troops at Fleurus 1622:
As paintered by Snayers:
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Defending the Ferme Chassart
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Cavalry in action
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As painted by Carducho (Spanish on the right beneath the oversize commanders on horseback)
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 12:17 pm
by footslogger
Wow. Thanks. That painting of Fleurus is something else. That's what I call a tercio!

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:00 pm
by DanielS
Pieter Snayers was without a doubt one of the best 17th Century battle painters and some of his works are the finest produced by the school of "realistic" battle painters which evolved in the Netherlands. Unlike his teacher Vrancx who is best known for his paintings of skirmish & small groups of soldiers Snayers excelled in the making of huge panoramic battle scenes. His style isn't without flaws as he often exaggerates the depth of units and the number of pikemen present in order to get a better painting but in some his depiction of formations is very accurate.

Some other examples of Snayers skill is his painting of Kircholm 1605 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... 1605_I.JPG and the battle of Honnecourt 1642 http://www.museodelprado.es/imagen/alta ... P01741.jpg It is too bad that so many of his paintings are still not available online as large size digital images as he made several series of paintings of TYW battles which are now kept in Brussels, Munich and Vienna.

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:36 pm
by khurasan_miniatures
We'll be making Spanish models for the TYW period as soon as the Qing and the German command and dragoons are done. Every effort will be made to assure that they relfect their dress and equipment tendencies of the period.

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:41 pm
by footslogger
khurasan_miniatures wrote:We'll be making Spanish models for the TYW period as soon as the Qing and the German command and dragoons are done. Every effort will be made to assure that they relfect their dress and equipment tendencies of the period.
Any plans ever to do stuff for 28mm?