Male Warrior Running with Drawn Sword c. 1600

Hubert Gerhard made this dynamic drawing of a male warrior with pen and brown ink on paper sometime in the late 16th century. It shows a figure in mid-stride, sword raised, seemingly caught in a moment of intense action. Gerhard, a Dutch sculptor working in Germany, Italy, and Austria, lived in a world defined by the social hierarchies of aristocratic courts. His art often reflected this context. This drawing seems to depict an allegorical figure representing war, power, or perhaps Justice. The grid underlying the drawing suggests that this study was made in preparation for a sculpture. As such, it speaks to the important institutional relationship between drawing and sculpture at the time. Artists like Gerhard were dependent on the patronage of the elite class. But they were also helping to define the visual language through which that class expressed its power. To better understand this work, look into the artistic conventions of late Renaissance Europe, the history of sculpture in the period, and the relationship between artist and patron. What does it tell us about the function of art in society?