A Soldier Loading a Musket, "Ramme in Your Pouder"
Jacques de Gheyn (II)
1596–1598
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, and traces of black chalk on ivory laid paper, incised for transfer
- Dimensions
- 26.7 × 18.4 cm (10 9/16 × 7 1/4 in.)
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
brush and washdrawings (visual works)inkpen and ink drawingswashlaid paperprints and drawingpaper
About
Jacques de Gheyn produced over 100 drawings for a groundbreaking 1607 Dutch military manual The Exercise of Arms. The drawings, a series of images that capture precise military maneuvers and show the appropriate tackle for each type of soldier, were then engraved for publication. For A Soldier Loading a Musket, de Gheyn drew the figure clearly and confidently with thin brown lines, adding gray wash to suggest volume and texture. This clarity was necessary for the engraver who would copy it onto a copper plate. In the printed version, a command instructed the soldier to ram powder into their musket.
