A Soldier Loading a Musket, "Ramme in Your Pouder"
Jacques de Gheyn II (Dutch 1565-1629)
1596/98
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
Jacques de Gheyn produced over 100 drawings for a groundbreaking 1607 Dutch military manual The Exercise of Arms. The drawings, a series of images that capture precise military maneuvers and show the appropriate tackle for each type of soldier, were then engraved for publication.
For A Soldier Loading a Musket, de Gheyn drew the figure clearly and confidently with thin brown lines, adding gray wash to suggest volume and texture. This clarity was necessary for the engraver who would copy it onto a copper plate. In the printed version, a command instructed the soldier to ram powder into their musket.
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, and traces of black chalk on ivory laid paper, incised for transfer
- Original size
- 26.7 × 18.4 cm (10 9/16 × 7 1/4 in.)
Museum record · 8 owners · 3 exhibitions
Provenance
- Probably Jacques de Gheyn III (c. 1596–1641), The Hague and Utrecht; probably Johannes Uytenbogaert (1608–1680), Amsterdam, by descent; to Jan and Jacob van Gheel (1667–1757 and 1670–1721), Amsterdam.
- Jan Pietersz.
- Zoomer (1641–1724), Amsterdam; sold, Amsterdam, Apr. 5, 1725, lot 56, to Jan Goeree, Amsterdam; sold, Amsterdam, Mar. 12, 1731.
- Probably sold, Amsterdam, Mar. 8, 1762, part of lots 1417–78.
- Cornelis Ploos van Amstel (1726–1798), Amsterdam; sold, Amsterdam, Mar. 3, 1800, lot BBB62 or DD37 (with two other drawings), to B. de Bosch, Amsterdam; sold, Amsterdam, Mar. 10, 1817, lot 30 or 31, Amsterdam.
- Sold, Amsterdam, Oct. 16, 1928, lot 469 (with a second drawing), Amsterdam.
- I.Q. (Johan Quirijn) van Regteren Altena (1899–1980), Amsterdam; by descent; sold, Christie’s, Amsterdam, Nov. 12, 1990, lot 68, to Bob P. Haboldt, Paris.
- Paul Russell, Amsterdam; sold through Thomas Williams, London, to Richard and Mary L. Gray, Chicago, 2017; promised to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2018.
Exhibitions
- Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Jacques de Gheyn II Drawings, Dec. 13, 1985–Sept. 2, 1986; also Washington D.C., The National Gallery of Art, Sept. 3–Nov. 5, 1986.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, "Rubens, Rembrandt, and Drawing in the Golden Age", September 28, 2019 - January 5, 2020, 213, 214-15, 279, 298, 331, cat. by Victoria Sancho Lobis, et. al.
- The Art Institute of Chicago, "Pure Drawing: Seven Centuries of Art from the Gray Collection", January 25 - May 10, 2020, GC 27, traveled to Berkeley, CA, August 4 - November 28, 2021.
