A soldier on guard shaping the match between his thumb and his forefinger, from the Marksmen series, plate 41, in Wapenhandelinghe van Roers Musquetten Ende Spiessen (The Exercise of Arms)
Medium
Engraving; second state of two (New Hollstein)
Dimensions
plate: 10 1/4 x 7 3/16 in. (26 x 18.2 cm) sheet: 15 1/16 x 10 1/8 in. (38.3 x 25.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Accession Number
2012.136.353.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This engraving by Jacques de Gheyn II captures a precise moment in a soldier’s routine: carefully shaping the slow-burning match between thumb and forefinger before igniting a musket. Created as plate 41 in the influential 1607–1608 manual *Wapenhandelinghe van Roers, Musquetten ende Spiessen* (The Exercise of Arms), the print belongs to a series of 117 plates that illustrated every step of handling firearms and pikes. De Gheyn’s crisp line work and clear composition turned military drill into an elegant visual lesson, making complex procedures easy to follow at a glance. Published in the Net...