The Standard Bearer, Turned to Left

1587

Hendrik Goltzius

Associated Names
Hendrick Goltzius

Artist, Dutch, 1558 - 1617

The image features a person standing on a rocky outcrop, holding a large cloth or flag with one hand extended upward. The person stands in a confident pose, with their right hand on their hip, legs slightly apart, and feet positioned on the uneven ground. The individual's facial features include a slightly turned profile, prominent eyebrows, and wavy hair styled with a feathered accessory. They wear an ornate outfit with a ruffled collar, fitted bodice, puffy sleeves, breeches, and decorative hosiery. A sword with an ornate hilt is attached to their hip. In the background, a landscape with a town, fields, and trees is visible, while smaller figures engage in the scene's horizon. Above, clouds drift across the sky.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 28.8 x 19.3 cm (11 5/16 x 7 5/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1978.100.1

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein 1996, no. 288


Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1983

  • Graphic Survey Show, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., May 1983.

1995

  • Imitation and Invention: Old Master Prints and Their Sources, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995.

Bibliography

1921

  • Hirschmann, Otto. Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks von Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) mit Benutzung der durch E.W. Moest hinterlassenen Notizen zusammengestellt. Leipzig: Verlag von Klinkhardt und Biermann, 1921. Reprint. Braunschweig: Klinkhardt &Bie

1981

  • Ackley, Clifford S. Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt. Exh. cat. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1981:, p.3, 1.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-: no. 288.

Inscriptions

bottom center, in image, in plate: Ao 1587 HGoltzius fe.; in margin below image, in plate: Signifer ingentes animos, et corda ministro, / Me stat stante phalanx, me fugiente fugit. (I, the standard-bearer, ensure steadfastness of mind and of heart: as long as I stand, the line holds, if I flee, it flees also. [translation from Leeflang, Huigen, and Ger Luijten. Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617): Drawings, Prints and Paintings. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2003, p. 78.)]

Wikidata ID

Q65569197

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