Autumn, red deer bellowing season (Hirschbrunftzeit bei Schloss Trachselwald). Ink sketch

                   It is autumn, a male deer bellows, in front of the beautiful Trachselwald castle.

The medieval lakeside town of Rapperswil (in gray tones)

 

I have not yet managed to complete an old painting with Rapperswil and its lake fauna as I wanted, but at least ... here is a slightly modified version in the grey tones of ink and graphite. With two kingfisher in the foreground and a glimpse of light on the city in the background (glimpse of light I saw on another beautiful lake ... but that's another story, for a future painting). 

Swiss Soldiers, Burgundian Wars, March 1476

On 2 March 1476 the Swiss army has directed an attack on the castle of Vaumarcus, near Neuchâtel.
The attack was led by the men of Berne.
The standard bearer of the picture carries the flag and colors of Hans von Hallwyl, a Swiss army commander.

Hans Franz Naegeli, Conqueror of the Vaud, 1536

Hans Franz Nägeli was Supreme Commander of the Bernese troops in the conquest of Vaud (1536), during the war agaist Savoy.

 In the campain of March 1536 he conquered Chateau Chillon and Lausanne; the conquest of the Pays de Vaud was completed on the 29th March 1536, the day when the wonderful castle of Chillon (http://www.chillon.ch/en/castle) fell.
http://www.hr-lavater.ch/2014/08/09/der-baer-in-der-waadt-1536/

 This figure is based on the beautiful “Schützenbrunnen” and “Vennerbrunnen”, two of the many charming sculture-fountain of Bern, made by the Master Hans Gieng in the years between 1542 and 1543. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Gieng

The illustration depicts Nägeli in half-harness, with the typical broad-brimmed plumed hat.

The sculpture of the "Vennerbrunnen" in Bern 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vennerbrunnen

Places, castles and warriors of Swiss History

To sum up: in one post my artworks on Swiss History

Hagenwil Castle - Schloss Hagenwil

This beautiful castle, one of the most picturesque and iconic castles in Switzerland, was built in the 13th century and is still surrounded by a wide moat. It is immersed in a beautiful idyll of meadows and orchards and is one of the few examples in Europe of castles with moat preserved in their original architectural form (drawbridge, tower, palace, chapel, battlements).
The castle was besieged in 1405 by the troops from Appenzell (Appenzeller Kriege, Wars of Appenzell); during the 15th and 16th centuries (largely under the Bernhausen family) he took on its Gothic appearance. In 1633, during the Thirty Years War, he was attacked and looted by the Swedish troops.
From 1684 it was a small summer residence of the Abbots of St. Gallen. Today it is privately owned and a restaurant.

Swiss halberdier, Morat/Murten 1476, & Swiss soldier from Bern, 1475

In 1475 the Bernese, with Fribourg, conquered large parts of the Vaud Savoyard, which was allied with the Burgundians. During the month of August the Bernese attacked the castle of Aigle, to end the restless deployment of enemy troops.