Lieutenant-Colonel

A soldier stands prominently in the foreground wearing the extravagant, voluminous fashion of the late 16th century, including a feathered cap and a stiff ruff. He holds a tall, decorative partisan in his right hand and wears a sword at his hip, while other soldiers and a fortified town appear in the distance. The print displays the swelling and tapering line work characteristic of Northern Mannerist engraving.

This print is part of a celebrated series of military officers that exemplifies the technical virtuosity of the Haarlem Mannerists. The circle of Goltzius and De Gheyn was deeply embedded in the intellectual culture of the Dutch Republic, where the refinement of engraving was often compared to alchemical transmutation and the mastery of the natural world.