The Great Standard Bearer

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Artist: Hendrik Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617)
Medium: Engraving
Size: 11 1/8 × 7 1/2 in. (28.26 × 19.05 cm) (sheet)
Museum: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Rights: Public Domain Mark

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.

Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.