Pruisische musketier met musket en bajonet 1764 - 1791

Mathias de Sallieth made this print of a Prussian musketeer with musket and bayonet sometime around 1790. It offers a glimpse into the visual culture and military structure of the late 18th century. Notice how the print meticulously renders the uniform and weapon. These details speak to the regimented nature of Prussian military life, where uniformity and discipline were paramount. Prussia, at the time, was building its reputation as a military power, and images like this played a role in constructing and reinforcing that image, both internally and on the European stage. Consider the context of this work, the print was produced for dissemination. Prints like this were often used as a tool of propaganda, fostering a sense of national pride and military strength. To understand this image fully, we can draw on military archives, social histories of Prussia, and studies of visual culture in the late 18th century. The image becomes not just a portrait of a soldier, but a lens through which to view the social and political ambitions of a nation on the rise.