Lancer, sheet 9 from the cycle Officers and Soldiers

The twelve sheets from this cycle are de Gheyn’s earliest dated prints. The artist worked from models by Hendrick Goltzius, in whose workshop he apprenticed as a printmaker. Goltzius published similar engravings of officers and cornets in the 1580s. In the Netherlands, which had been fighting with Spain since 1568, the depictions of soldiers were particularly topical. De Gheyn’s early work reflects Goltzius’s energetic manner of engraving and prominent volumes. However, the movement of de Gheyn’s soldiers is strongly stylized, a feature that distinguishes them from other similar cycles. Rather than warriors, they resemble fashion models in elegant clothing.