Staande soldaat met borstkuras en speer over de schouder, en profil 1630 - 1665

Salomon Savery made this engraving of a standing soldier with breastplate and spear in the Netherlands, sometime in the first half of the 17th century. Savery’s figure appears against a blank background, which focuses our attention on the details of his dress. Note the stylishly large hat, the elaborate construction of the armour, and the ribbons at his knees. These visual elements tell us that this is not a typical soldier. Instead, Savery seems to be depicting one of the Dutch officers whose status rose during the Eighty Years’ War. As the Dutch Republic emerged from Spanish rule, military leaders became important figures in social and political life. Their likenesses appeared in numerous portraits, and prints like this one helped to circulate those images. To understand Savery’s work more fully, we might turn to military history, costume studies, and the biographies of leading Dutch families. This kind of interdisciplinary research helps us to understand how artists responded to the changing social structures of their time.