Exercise of Arms

Jacques de Gheyn, II · 1608

Medium

Illustrated book featuring 117 copper plate engravings on ivory laid paper; full vellum binding

Original size

38.1 × 27.2 × 5.1 cm (15 × 10 3/4 × 2 1/16 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Mannerism

*Exercise of Arms* is one of the defining visual documents of early modern warfare — a precisely rendered military drill manual that doubled as a work of refined printmaking. Jacques de Gheyn II trained under the master engraver Hendrick Goltzius and became one of the most technically accomplished draughtsmen of the Dutch Golden Age. Commissioned by Prince Maurice of Nassau to standardise infantry training across the Dutch Republic, de Gheyn produced 117 copper plate engravings showing soldiers in sequential poses as they loaded and handled muskets, arquebuses, and pikes. The figures are rendered with a clarity and anatomical confidence that goes well beyond utilitarian instruction — each plate reads as a composed artwork in its own right, the soldiers posed against plain grounds that give the series a quiet, almost meditative dignity. The manual was so effective that it was rapidly translated and republished across Europe, fundamentally shaping how armies trained for generations. The copy held at the Art Institute of Chicago preserves the original ivory laid paper and full vellum binding in exceptional condition. Bringing this work into oil translation requires particular sensitivity to tone and line. Our hand-painted reproduction honours the restrained palette and structural precision of de Gheyn's engravings, rendering their graphic authority in the warmth and depth that only oil paint can provide.