John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) at the Siege of Tournai

In 1727, the antiquarian and engraver George Vertue (1684-1756) wrote of John Wootton that he was ‘well esteemed for his skill in landskip paintings amongst the professors of art & in great vogue & favour with many persons of ye greatest quality’ (G. Vertue, ‘Vertue Note Book: Volume III’, The Volume of the Walpole Society, XXII, 1933-34, p. 34). The prominent patrons to whom he referred here included King George II, Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Sir Robert Walpole. Ths picture dates to Wootton’s early career, when the influence of his teacher, Jan Wyck (1652-1700), is still evident in the figural grouping, though details such as the careful foreground foliage and the spirited horses are very much Wootton’s own, and were to become hallmarks of the younger artist’s mature works. The distinctive shape of Tournai Cathedral, seen in the background to the left of the composition, allows us to place the scene at the Seige of Tournai, 1709. This crucial episode in the War of Spanish Succession was directed by the Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), depicted here on his prancing white charger. In comparison to Wootton’s much later Siege of Tournai, dated 1742 (London, The Royal Collection), the focus of this work is on the figural group rather than the military engagement. It has been suggested that, rather than celebrating the British victory, the present picture was intended to depict the return of Marlborough’s friend and aide, William, later 1st Earl of Cadogan (1675-1726), who had been wounded at the battle of Mons. It is possibly to him, and not the town, that Marlborough gestures with his baton.