De exercitie met schild en spies: de soldaat in een verdedigende houding met een voet naar voren en met zijn rapier en schild op de knie voor het lichaam (nr. 21), 1618 1616 - 1618

Editor: This engraving by Adam van Breen, made around 1618, is titled "De exercitie met schild en spies: de soldaat in een verdedigende houding met een voet naar voren en met zijn rapier en schild op de knie voor het lichaam (nr. 21)". The soldier's stance seems very deliberate, like a paused moment in a choreographed dance of combat. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a potent representation of cultural memory around warfare. Notice how the soldier’s posture echoes a very specific defensive tactic. His shield, rather than actively blocking, is almost an extension of his knee – a gesture signifying both protection and calculated restraint. Think of what it meant to hold such a pose in the 17th century. Editor: You're right, his posture isn't just practical. It's a performance. How might that connect with a wider cultural understanding of conflict at the time? Curator: The repetition of this image - think about how prints function - would’ve ingrained these postures, these symbolic gestures, into the collective consciousness. It reinforced a particular vision of soldierly discipline, bravery, and perhaps even the *romance* of war, masking its brutality through stylized representation. Does the image project what *war* feels like, or what it is *meant* to look like? Editor: That makes a lot of sense. It's almost propaganda through body language. I hadn’t thought about how an image like this could shape a cultural idea, rather than just reflect reality. Curator: Exactly! And how that cultivated "romance" persists even now, albeit often in more abstracted forms, shaping everything from video game avatars to political rhetoric. Consider how an image like this contributed to a legacy – what endures beyond the immediate depiction. Editor: I see the cultural weight in this soldier's pose and now realize I will read visual representation with a different appreciation going forward!