Salaams Philip,
In Respect of #2 second picture from top and refered to in the previous post ~To slightly tidy that picture up a little; It was painted in 1618 by Sebastiaen Vrancx who is seen in portrait below and who painted a lot of Eighty Years War battles as well as other non combat works of art... He had been an officer in that war thus he painted with some authority.
From Wikipedia I Quote "Sebastiaen Vrancx, Sebastiaan Vrancx or Sebastian Vranckx[1] (pronounced [ˈvrɑŋs]; 22 January 1573 – 19 May 1647) was a Flemish Baroque painter and draughtsman who is mainly known for his battle scenes, a genre that he pioneered in Netherlandish painting. He also created landscapes with mythological and allegorical scenes, scenes with robbers, village scenes and celebrations in cities.[2] He was a gifted figure painter who was regularly invited to paint
the staffage(see below) in compositions of fellow painters.[3]"Unquote.
Staffage ~
In any Old Master landscape, townscape or villagescape, you may find figures embarking on their daily activities. ‘Staffage’, a term more commonly adopted in the late-18th and early-19th centuries — possibly derived from the Old French term estoffe, meaning 'stuff’, or the German staffieren for ‘decorate’ — refers to the human and animal figures that populate pictures, either with subtle anonymity or with historical and biblical significance.
For comparison I place another similar battle by Vrancx showing the shock effect of pistols~ wheel locks at short range by charging cavalry in full armour!
See
https://books.google.com.om/books?id...%20war&f=false for techniques to blacken armour which was a regulation..
They used soot and linseed oil then burned it on. Browning and blueing were more expensive...
See also
http://jeanmoust.com/categories/batt...n/item-1142207 for some history on the 30 and 80 years wars...and more artist details.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.