Five German Soldiers
ca 1520–1536
Medium
Etching; first state of two
Dimensions
sheet: 7 7/8 x 14 9/16 in. (20 x 37 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.395
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *Five German Soldiers*, a dynamic etching from around 1520–1536, attributed to Daniel Hopfer Erhard Schön. Measuring 7⅞ × 14⅝ inches, this first-state impression—before any later alterations—captures five armored figures with swords and drums, evoking the swagger of early modern warfare. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, it exemplifies the bold printmaking of the Northern Renaissance. Created during a turbulent era of the Holy Roman Empire and the early Reformation, the print likely depicts *Landsknechte*, the flamboyant German mercenary soldier...
About the Artist
Daniel Hopfer|Erhard Schön · 1471–1536
Daniel Hopfer (c. 1470–1536), born in Kaufbeuren, was the son of the painter Bartholomäus Hopfer and Anna Sendlerin. He relocated early to Augsburg, becoming a citizen and master painter there in 1493, and trained as an etcher of armor in this thriving center of arms production. By 1505, he owned a house in the city center and served on the guild committee for smiths, which encompassed painters an...