The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 19, 2025

A drawing of a military officer with a confident stance, holding a spear, with troops and officers in the background. He has a light skin tone and is wearing a hat and scarf.

Standing Officer Holding a Boar's Spear

1586
(Dutch, 1558–1617)
Netherlands, Haarlem, 16th century
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, red chalk with traces of white opaque watercolor over black chalk, on paper; traces of transfer
Sheet: 20.6 x 15.6 cm (8 1/8 x 6 1/8 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1994.195
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This military officer brandishes a type of spear used for boar hunting, in which the two lugs on the blade were meant to keep the animal from pushing its way up the spear to attack the hunter.

Description

This sheet is the only known preparatory drawing for an important group of engravings depicting military figures designed by Hendrick Goltzius between 1582 and 1600. Here Goltzius depicted a military officer with a confident stance and direct gaze as he staunchly holds a spear in his right hand and carries his sword on his hip. Details such as the fluttering scarf and the feather-trimmed hat enliven the image. The background portrays the deeds of the protagonist, including a scene with troops on the right, and two other officers, perhaps shown training with spears, on the left. Such imagery usually promoted militaristic values such as bravery in the period, as the Netherlands underwent continuous warfare with Spain. Goltzius's technique includes fine pen strokes and delicate brown washes combined with red chalk additions on the face and hands, which add a degree of naturalism and finish to the drawing.
  • ?-1768
    G. Braamkamp, Amsterdam;
    1768
    his sale, P. Yver, Amsterdam, 29 February 1768, no. 265.
    ca. 1768-ca. 1780
    Van Der Hoog, Amsterdam.
    1780
    his sale, Amsterdam,10 April 1780, no. 128
    1780
    Sold, P. Yver, Amsterdam, 30 October 1780, no. 3.
    ?-1782
    Juda van Benjamin Senior, Amsterdam
    1782
    his sale, Jan Willem Smit, Amsterdam, 4 November 1782, no. 27
    ?-1859
    John 2nd Lord Northwick (1770-1859), London
    1921
    his sale, "remaining portion of" his collection, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, London, 5 July 1921, no. 79
    ca. 1920s-ca. 1952
    Sir Robert Witt (1872-1952), London (Lugt 2228b)
    by 1959-1974
    Dr. and Mrs. Frances Springell (1898-1974), Portinscale, Cumberland (Lugt 1049a)
    1976
    sold Sotheby Mak van Waay B.V., Amsterdam, 3 May 1976, lot 93
    1994
    with Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox Ltd., London
    1994
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen. H. Goltzius als tekenaar. Teylers Museum: Haarlem, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 38 , cat. no. 81
    Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen. H. Goltzius als tekenaar. [Tentoonstelling] van 23 mei tot 13 juli, Museum Boymans, Rotterdam, van 19 juli tot 31 augustus. Teylers Museum: Haarlem, 1958. cat. 81, p. 27, 38
    P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Loan Exhibition of Drawings by Old Masters from the Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Francis Springell. London: Colnaghi, 1959. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 35
    Reznicek, Emil Karel Josef. Die Zeichnungen von Hendrick Goltzius. Utrecht: Haentjens Dekker & Gumbert, 1961. no. K337, p. 392, fig. no. 68
    Manchester City Art Gallery. Between Renaissance and Baroque; European Art, 1520-1600. 1965. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 35
    Andrews, Keith. Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Dr and Mrs Francis Springell. Edinburgh. National Gallery of Scotland. Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 1965. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 12, no. 22
    Goltzius, Hendrik, and Walter L. Strauss. Hendrik Goltzius, 1558-1617: The Complete Engravings and Woodcuts. New York: Abaris Books, 1977. under no. 252
    Goltzius, Hendrick, and Walter L. Strauss. Hendrik Goltzius, 1558-1617: The Complete Engravings and Woodcuts. New York, NY: Abaris Books, 1977. under no. 252, p. 434
    Filedt Kok, Jan Piet, "Proefdrukken uit Goltzius' atelier omstreeks 1587," Bulletin van he Rijksmuseum 39/4 (1991): pp. 363-74. p. 368
    Reznicek, Emil Karel Josef, "Drawings by Hendrick Goltzius, Thirty Years Later: Supplement to the 1961 catalogue raisonné," Master Drawings XXXI/3 (Autumn 1993): pp. 215-278.
     part III, no. A68, p. 276
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “New Acquisitions Enter the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection,” February 14, 1995, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Dunbar, Burton L., and Edward J. Olszewski. Drawings in Midwestern Collections: A Corpus. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996. cat. 23, pp. 39-40
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: cat. no. 69, p. 11, pp.170-171; p.293; Reproduced: p. 171
    Peters, Emily J., Laura Ritter, William Griswold, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, and Koenraad Jonckheere. Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. Cleveland, OH : Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 194-195, no. 54
  • Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 9, 2022-January 8, 2023).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 3-October 26, 1997).
    Old Master Drawings from the Collections of Dr. and Mrs. Francis Springell. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (July to September 1965).
    Between Renaissance and Baroque. City Art Gallery, Manchester (March 10 - April 6 1965).
    Loan Exhibition of Drawings by Old Masters from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Francis Springell. Colnaghi, London (October 15 - November 11 1959).
    Hendrick Goltzius als Tekenaar. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (May 23 - July 13 1958); Teylers Museum, Haarlem (July 19 - August 31 1958).
  • {{cite web|title=Standing Officer Holding a Boar's Spear|url=false|author=Hendrick Goltzius|year=1586|access-date=19 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1994.195