Standing Officer Holding a Boar's Spear (1586): Art, History and Details

Standing Officer Holding a Boar's Spear (1586) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Standing Officer Holding a Boar's Spear
• Date: 1586
• Creator attribution: Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617)
• Culture: Netherlands, Haarlem, 16th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, red chalk with traces of white opaque watercolor over black chalk, on paper; traces of transfer
• Dimensions: Sheet: 20.6 x 15.6 cm (8 1/8 x 6 1/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - Dutch
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1994.195

A detail from the museum

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.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen. H. Goltzius als tekenaar. Teylers Museum: Haarlem, 1958.
• 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.
• P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Loan Exhibition of Drawings by Old Masters from the Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Francis Springell. London: Colnaghi, 1959.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.