Storytelling in Miniature

Albrecht Dürer
German, 1471–1528

The Standard Bearer

Engraving, about 1502
4 1/2 x 2 3/4 in
Grace J. Hitchcock Collection, 1981.206

A German soldier has his hand on his sword. His other hand holds a banner with the Cross of St. Andrew, emblematic of the Order of the Golden Fleece and of the dukes of Burgundy. The posture of the soldier is possibly the result of Dürer’s study of antique sculpture while in Italy. The Standard Bearer is thought to be influenced by the famous Greek statue the Apollo Belvedere, a Roman copy of which is housed at the Pio Clementino Museum at the Vatican.