Landscape with Tournament and Hunters 1519 - 1520

Jan van Scorel painted “Landscape with Tournament and Hunters” in the Netherlands sometime in the first half of the 16th century. It’s an idealized view of the countryside, teeming with figures engaged in noble pastimes. Tournaments and hunts were, of course, the exclusive preserve of the aristocracy. The painting speaks to the social structure of the time, one in which leisure and pleasure were highly stratified along class lines. There is also a military aspect. Hunting and jousting were understood as training for war and reaffirming hierarchical structure of command. As an art historian, to fully understand the painting’s place in history, I’d research the history of noble sport in the Netherlands, as well as the economic and political conditions that enabled the aristocracy to flourish. By examining these social and institutional contexts, we can better understand the painting’s meaning and significance.