Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Great Standard Bearer

Hendrick GoltziusLinkedCulture matchlcp-30d0d64299f0

Date

1587

Medium

Engraving

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Object ID

119658

Today’s army uses digital camouflage to make soldiers difficult to detect. Some consider this an advance on the sixteenth-century tactic of outfitting particularly brave men in embroidered and slit silk jackets with stuffed waists and puffy sleeves, pantaloons tied with bows, starched ruffs, and drop earrings, while elevating big billowing banners. It may not look it, but as this soldier tells us, this was a serious job: “I, the standard-bearer, ensure steadfastness of mind and heart: as long as I stand, the line holds, if I flee, it flees also.” To pay for his finery and to compensate him for being a prime target, the standard-bearer received three times the pay of the ordinary soldier. Netherlands, Europe

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