The Standard Bearer, Turned to Left

Around 1587 Goltzius drew designs for 12 prints depicting officers and soldiers in landscape settings, which were engraved by his pupil Jacques de Gheyn II. Goltzius himself engraved a related pair of prints, The Captain of Infantry and The Great Standard Bearer. A central figure in the army and civic guard, the standard bearer marked the position of the captain. At this time, the Netherlands were trying to oust their Spanish rulers and these prints were conceived as flamboyant expressions of military pride.

A vertically oriented engraving depicts a man with light skin tone standing center, head turned to our left. Wearing a ruff collar and patterned jacket with puffed sleeves, he grips a massive flag pole with his right hand. Billowing folds fill the background, rendered with dense, rhythmic etched lines. His left hand rests on his hip near a sword hilt. Below, a landscape with a distant city sits above Latin text beginning "Signifer ingentes animos."

The Standard Bearer, Turned to Left

1587

Hendrick Goltzius

(Dutch, 1558–1617)

Netherlands, 16th century

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